Move to privatise garbage transfer: union threatens strike

GHMC seeking to hand over three transfer stations to the concessionaire

The Greater Hyderabad Municipal Employees Union (GHMEU) on Saturday threatened strike if the corporation did not revoke its decision to privatise management of garbage transfer stations in the city.

While not specifying any date for the strike, the union’s representation to GHMC Commissioner M. Dana Kishore said the strike would be called “shortly”.

The notice was given in the context of the GHMC’s proposal to hand over transfer station management and transportation of municipal solid waste from transfer stations to treatment facilities, to the concessionaire HIMSW (Hyderabad Integrated Municipal Solid Waste) in a phased manner.

The HIMSW is a special purpose vehicle launched by the Ramky Enviro Engineers Limited, which is maintaining the treatment facility at the Jawahar Nagar dump yard.

The Government, about six months ago, issued orders giving the corporation the green signal for implementation of the decision.

The corporation is seeking to hand over three transfer stations — Nagole, Yusufguda, and Patancheru — to the concessionaire.

At Nagole, the brief is to develop a modern transfer station at Uppal Bagayat land of HMDA or any other location, as an alternative to the existing one. This is because the Metro Rail station is adjacent to the existing transfer station. At Yusufguda, the concessionaire is to modernise the existing transfer station, as many habitations have come up around, as also the Krishnakant Park. The transfer station has been adopted by former Minister K. T. Rama Rao.

The concessionaire is also to develop a modern transfer station on TSIIC land at Patancheru to eliminate the existing smaller ones at Ramachandrapuram and Ashoknagar.

Such a decision is in accordance with the Concessionaire Agreement previously signed for municipal solid waste management, hence no new agreement is required, say officials.

The agreement, signed in 2009, included primary and secondary collection and transportation of waste to the transfer station, transfer station management and transportation of waste, besides treatment and disposal.

However, the agreement could not be implemented in full, as workers’ unions opposed the move. Only processing was handed over to the HIMSW, while GHMC has been taking care of primary, secondary and tertiary collection and transportation of waste.

GHMEU president U. Gopal said the latest move by GHMC would render many workers unemployed.