Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) is planning to place ‘Smart Bins’ at 800 locations in Hyderabad, where garbage dumping has been a chronic problem since removal of the dumper bins. The image is used for representative purposes only.
Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) is planning to bring in ‘smart bins’ to be placed at select locations where garbage dumping has been a chronic problem since removal of the dumper bins.
GHMC Commissioner K. Ilambarithi shared this during Thursday’s (January 30, 2025) budget session of the council, in response to members’ queries about the condition of sanitation in the city.
Smart bins with sensors will convey status of bins
On the sidelines of the meeting, Mr. Ilambarithi said the smart bins, equipped with sensors, will convey the status of the bin to the centralised control. A route map will be drawn each day for the garbage trucks to make trips to the bins nearing their capacity. The bins are planned to be placed at 800 locations in the city, which are not covered by the Swachh Auto Trolleys.
Gaps led to sanitation nightmare
Hyderabad had been declared bin free city in 2021, after the blue dumper bins were removed from various corners of the city in the rush to get ahead in Swachh Survekshan rankings. However, owing to several gaps in door-to-door garbage collection, garbage has started piling up at thousands of locations across the city, making it a sanitation nightmare.
Mr. Ilambarithi felt that bringing back the bins is the only solution to address this issue of garbage vulnerable points. Though the Swachh Bharat Mission approves underground bins, space is a constraint in the city, hence smart bins are being planned.
“There are several loose ends to the door-to-door garbage collection, and until they are tied up, we will need to depend on bins,” he said.
The council meeting saw several members raising questions about the insufficient deployment of sanitation workers. Corporator Uppalapati Sreekanth pointed out that the GHMC has become a top-heavy organisation, with several additional commissioners and joint commissioners occupying chairs where the work is relatively low. On the other hand, there is chronic requirement of sweepers in various circles, which is not being fulfilled.
He cited Estates, Sports and Advertising wings as examples, and demanded that all the additional commissioners be deployed to zones for effective utilisation of their services. Besides, he also questioned the trifurcation of the Sanitation department into Health, Sanitation and Transport, with separate offices and officials.
Responding to this, Mr.Ilambarithi said he would review the matter, and take decision accordingly. He informed that the government has accorded permission for engaging 1,578 sanitation workers, implementation of which is delayed due to discrepancy with the existing terms of employment. A letter has been addressed to the government with regard to this, and action will be taken soon after getting the approval.
Corporator K. Navajeevan Reddy questioned indiscriminate grant of building permissions without attention paid to sewerage capacity of the respective areas, which is leading to sewage overflow at several locations.
Published – January 31, 2025 11:46 am is
