Shamshabad civic body unwraps smart solutions to serve citizens

Shamshabad: Despite a chink in the armour in terms of source of revenue, the officials of a newly formed Shamshabad Municipality – with much of the area falls under (G.O.111), is playing it safe while planning basic amenities and services for people with upbeat approaches. The officials disseminate various development components into four different segments under the 'Pattana Pragathi' (Town Development) programme and ground them meticulously to avoid perplexing situations being faced in Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) areas.

From sanitation to the Haritha Haram programme and from creating Street Vending Zones to upgrading Vaikunta Dhamam (Burial grounds) all the necessary developing components were discussed to chalk out strategies before taking them into the public. Besides, appointing ward wise 'Nagara Deepikas' to take up sanitation drives more effectively makes this municipality a more vibrant town on the city outskirts. Already, having its own dumping yard and a dry waste management mechanism gives it a niche over other municipalities.

With whatever the funds being sanctioned, the officials manage to secure machines for sanitation drives, public toilets, upgrading the existing burial grounds, and identifying street vending zones at various locations. Discovering pain areas in all the 25 wards and ascertaining the feasibility to fill the vacuum before grounding the programme efficiently are the practices the officials performed to achieve the set targets.

"For a total population of 44,650 people (as per the 2011 census) that spreads in all the 25 wards of the municipality, the Shamshabad Municipality has a total number of 6 machines that include Jetting Machine, Sweeping Machine, a JCB and two JCB excavators besides a fleet of four tractors and nine auto trolleys to carry out door-to-door garbage collection. As a part of the open defecation free programme, the municipality has a presence of a total number of 45 public toilets out of which 29 are newly constructed model toilets. This includes 7 she toilets and 9 male toilets. Besides, that government recently approved proposal for setting up of a 'Model Veg-and-Non-Veg Market' at an old (R and B) building next to the existing vegetable market," informed Mohd Saber, Commissioner Shamshabad Municipality.

Besides basic amenities, the municipality also planned amusement facilities like the development of parks at four locations, gymnasiums at five places, and children's playing arenas at four locations besides setting up of playgrounds at 5 places considering all these components as 'sine qua non' for an eco-friendly atmosphere and a healthy human habitation. "There are a total of 8 existing Street Vending Zones in Shamshabad Municipality providing a platform for livelihood to vegetable vendors, fruit vendors, and plastic utensil vendors who perform business and eke out daily earnings. All these vending zones are in the process of upgradation," the commissioner claimed.

"To provide people a safe and secure place to carry out the last rights of their loved ones with the level of satisfaction and dignity we are even upgrading graveyards under Vaikunta Dhamam programme wherein two existing graveyards at Chinna Gollapalli and Siddhanti have been identified while four other locations are yet to be finalised. This has really made us more independent in serving people with end-to-end facilities despite a neonatal municipality which formed only two years back in 2018," he explained.

"Despite having the developing components, the Shamshabad Municipality still needs a better approach to address the issue of encroachments over historic Firangi nala and water stagnation at several places during the rainy season that costs the people their health. The municipality should also focus on removing encroachments over the nala moving through various colonies as this particular issue carries many solutions to a single problem," contended Syed Shoukat Ali, community activist.