Vijayawada: The failure of authorities in addressing the dumping of garbage in the city’s canals has resulted in the persistent choking of the Bandar, Eluru, and Ryves canals. In 2024, the Vijayawada Municipal Corporation (VMC) cleared a staggering 12,000 tonnes of plastic and floating waste from these three canals. Despite this effort, the problem persists due to the lack of a penalty mechanism to hold citizens and commercial establishments accountable for littering the canals.
“In place of spot penalisation with mobile teams, the corporation, in association with the police department, imposes online challans on citizens who throw waste into the canals. The online challans are issued using CCTV cameras installed on flyover bridges along the canals,” a senior municipal corporation official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told TOI.
“The vehicle registration numbers of citizens throwing garbage into the canals is be traced by the police department, and challans are issued. It is the responsibility of the respective ward sanitation secretaries to ensure that violators pay their fines,” the official added.
Another municipal corporation official stated that the civic body is reluctant to deploy mobile teams for imposing fines on citizens, as it could invite backlash from the public.
To discourage and prevent citizens from littering the canals, the civic body had earlier erected fencing on the bridges constructed over the canals, installed CCTV cameras, and set up a public address system to raise awareness about the issue. Additionally, dustbins were placed at these bridges. However, many fruit vendors, along with the public, continue to disregard the norms, discarding pooja materials like flowers, while fruit vendors dump decomposed fruit waste into the canals.
Civic body officials report that water hyacinth, along with plastic waste, accounts for the majority of the waste in the canals.
To clean the garbage, the civic body has been using a newly procured Truxor machine costing Rs 5 crore, along with five boats, two manual and three motorized, deployed across the three canals. Additionally, four boat drivers, three supervisors, and a total of 20 workers have been engaged in cleaning operations.
“In place of spot penalisation with mobile teams, the corporation, in association with the police department, imposes online challans on citizens who throw waste into the canals. The online challans are issued using CCTV cameras installed on flyover bridges along the canals,” a senior municipal corporation official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told TOI.
“The vehicle registration numbers of citizens throwing garbage into the canals is be traced by the police department, and challans are issued. It is the responsibility of the respective ward sanitation secretaries to ensure that violators pay their fines,” the official added.
Another municipal corporation official stated that the civic body is reluctant to deploy mobile teams for imposing fines on citizens, as it could invite backlash from the public.
To discourage and prevent citizens from littering the canals, the civic body had earlier erected fencing on the bridges constructed over the canals, installed CCTV cameras, and set up a public address system to raise awareness about the issue. Additionally, dustbins were placed at these bridges. However, many fruit vendors, along with the public, continue to disregard the norms, discarding pooja materials like flowers, while fruit vendors dump decomposed fruit waste into the canals.
Civic body officials report that water hyacinth, along with plastic waste, accounts for the majority of the waste in the canals.
To clean the garbage, the civic body has been using a newly procured Truxor machine costing Rs 5 crore, along with five boats, two manual and three motorized, deployed across the three canals. Additionally, four boat drivers, three supervisors, and a total of 20 workers have been engaged in cleaning operations.
