The Warangal Municipal Corporation (WMC) needs to focus urgently on sanitation and garbage disposal if the city has to live up to its reputation of being the second largest city in Telangana State. The ‘Clean City Award’ appears to be history as the sanitation is back to square one with piles of garbage dotting the tri-cities of Warangal, Hanamkonda and Kazipet.
Senior citizen and resident of Reddy Colony, M Jayaprakash said the clean city drive which was taken up in 2012 was abandoned subsequently and one could see garbage everywhere now in residential colonies and public places. According to retired sanitary inspector Md Naseem, there are 450 residential colonies under the municipal corporation limits that generate nearly 180 metric tonnes of garbage every day. With the recent merger of 42 villages, another 30 metric tonne of garbage is added every day. “There are no dumping yards. We presently have one ground at Madikonda that has reached saturation point,” he pointed out. Earlier, the sanitation personnel dumped the garbage at Urs which was closed because it reached saturation point and people also opposed it. Several efforts were made to identify new dumping grounds on the outskirts but reasons best known to officials, there was no result.
As part of its clean city project, elaborate arrangements were made by the corporation in 2012 accepting the challenge. Accordingly, it drew 300 routes, engaged 750 personnel, and bought new dumper bins, push carts. “Really good initiatives were taken up such as segregation of wet and dry garbage. But over a period of time, it got diluted,” explained Mr Naseem. Nearly 120 push carts became defunct as there required repairs.
Following slackness in sanitation, now the residents of Prashant Nagar, Siddhartha Nagar, Yadav Nagar, Somidi, Kadipikonda in Kazipet and those along the Hundred Feet road Reddy Puram, Peddammagadda and some in Warangal city are forced to dump garbage in private plots. There is urgent need to identify new dumping yards and strengthen the sanitation wing of the corporation immediately.
