Public participation key to city cleanliness: Dana Kishore

Nagole: GHMC Commissioner Dana Kishore has said that the GHMC is planning to purchase additional vehicles to collect garbage from each house. He was speaking at a program held at Nagole Cooperative Colony, as part of 'Saaf Hyderabad – Shandar Hyderabad,' on Sunday.

The commissioner said that GHMC collects 4,300 metric tonnes of garbage every day in the city, but it needs more vehicles to collect garbage from houses that remain uncovered. He said that complete cleanliness of the city of about 1 crore population is not possible with 18,000 sanitation workers.

He urged the city residents to spare at least 15 min every week for 'Swachh' events to maintain cleanliness in the city. Dana Kishore said that 'Saaf Hyderabad- Shandar Hyderabad' program was initiated to increase public participation in the cleanliness programs.

As part of the program, an area with 2,500 houses from each ward have been identified and cleanliness programs will be conducted in the area with public participation, with a goal of achieving complete cleanliness in the area within three months, he said.

The program will be done in each of the 150 wards in the city, covering an area with 3.75 lakh houses, he said. Stating that there is a tendency among people to give priority to personal needs over societal needs, he said, and added that natural resources are depleting at an alarming rate due to such misplaced priorities. He said that the month of May has been declared as plastic free month and urged people to minimize the use of plastic.

Dana Kishore congratulated the residents of Nagole Cooperative Society, which has been role model for other societies with their initiatives, such as waste segregation, 100% garbage collection, and maintenance of percolation pits, social forestry and other programs.

The commissioner said that GHMC is planning to start a magazine shortly to highlight such success stories in maintaining cleanliness. He inspected the construction of water harvesting pits, waste segregation and preparation of compost in the colony.

The commissioner also visited Rock Town Colony and interacted with the residents on their issues. When some of the residents complained to the commissioner on encroachment of the park area, he promised them that he would order an enquiry into the matter.

LB Nagar Zonal Commissioner S Srinivas Reddy, Hayat Nagar Deputy Commissioner Mukund Reddy, LB Nagar Deputy Commissioner Vijay Krishna, Saroornagar Deputy Commissioner Vijay Bhaskar and higher officials of Jalamandali participated in the program.