Ragpickers ready to live near dump yard

A rag-picker washing his feet in the rainwater that submerged the road opposite the KGH in Visakhapatnam. Photo: C.V. Subrahmanyam

Who wants to live near an 85-acre dumping yard at Kapuluppada? Around 70 families of Mandara Colony regularly rummage through the dumping yard and sell whatever they could find.

Around 700 tonnes of garbage is transported daily to the yard.

According to sources, 25 to 30 tribal families have been promised houses by MP T. Subbarami Reddy.

The families salvage anything worth selling from the dumping yard and live on encroachments at Madhurawada. A scrap trader also has set up a shop nearby.

They wanted houses near the dumping yard so that they can do their work from nearby.

“But we are unable to allot housing units owing to non-availability there,” admitted an official.

However, due to lack of clarity on allotment houses to weaker sections constructed under Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission, GVMC has put on hold further allotment of housing units.