Failing miserably in containing the haphazard accumulation of garbage at random locations, the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) is now experimenting with wheelbarrows and tricycles for collection of swept garbage from across the city.
In separate tenders, the civic body has invited bids for empanelment of agencies for supply and delivery of wheelbarrows and tricycles for transportation of municipal solid waste, for a period of one year.
The stated objective is to provide better sanitation standards to the citizens, by eliminating the garbage vulnerable points (GVPs). The wheelbarrows and tricycles will be provided to all the sanitation worker groups, to store the swept garbage daily, instead of dumping it at GVPs, the tender document said.
The requirement is tentatively fixed at 1,500 each of the wheelbarrows and the tricycles — 50 for each of the 30 circle under the civic body’s purview.
The corporation had earlier arranged for bins with wheels for the sanitation teams to dump the swept garbage in. Then too, the stated claim was to remove garbage vulnerable points.
The city’s solid waste management concessionaire partner Re Sustainability (formerly Ramky Enviro Engineers Limited), as its corporate social responsibility initiative, supplied a total 5,000 wheeled bins with 120 litres capacity each among the sanitation teams.
Upon enquiry, GHMC’s Sanitation wing officials said the bins were being placed at commercial/market locations for storing waste, till it is lifted by the Refuse Compactor Vehicles (RCVs) of the concessionaire agency.
GHMC had earlier invited agencies for empanelment for supply of canvas tarpaulin waterproof bags to its sanitation teams, precisely for the purpose of storing the swept waste and elimination of GVPs — the objective of current tender for wheelbarrows and tricycles.
“There are some inaccessible locations in city where the sanitation auto-trolleys cannot reach for garbage collection. We are commissioning wheelbarrows and tricycles to access these locations. Also, they will address the issue of accumulation of waste after sweeping by sanitation workers on roads, by storing the waste till it is collected by the RCVs,” shared an official from the Sanitation wing of GHMC.
Since 2021, the corporation has eliminated dumper placer bins and refuse compactor bins, in line with the Swachh Bharat guidelines for bin-free city. The move, however, went against its stated objective, as it resulted in accumulation of garbage at every corner of the city, creating garbage vulnerable points.
