Effective waste management brings accolades to Tadipatri

Tadipatri (Anantapur): Effective waste management both solid and liquid which is crucial for creating a disease-free healthy atmosphere has been the major success of Tadipatri Municipality with a population of more than 1.50 lakhs.

A decade ago, around 300 malaria cases were reported in the town every year. Today, the town is by and large disease-free, clean, green and certified as healthy city by international agencies due to high oxygen levels in the atmosphere.

The J C Brothers’ political dictatorship had brought in a semblance of order and discipline. Their clout among the local masses was used to police the city and trigger in discipline and development in the civic town.

Every day, solid and liquid waste is collected from every home and directly transported to the compost yard and wet waste from kitchen to the dumping yard. The wet waste is used to produce organic manure and raise organic vegetables.

The dry waste is burnt and reduced to ash by a system of co-processing. The ash is sent to cement factories for using the same as raw materiel in cement production by the Ultra Tech Cement Plant.

In return, the Ultra Tech plant spends Rs 1 crore on the town development under CSR. The town has underground drainage system from where the city's gutter water is recycled by the municipality and supplied to Gerdaue Steel Plant which uses the water to cool its boilers in the steel melting shop. The civic body by supplying the recycled water to the steel plant gets a revenue of Rs 70 lakh per year.

Local MLA J C Prabhakar Reddy, who started his active political life as a municipal chairman, had literally owned the town. He uses his tours abroad to borrow new ideas, innovation and to usher in development by cost-effective means.

The JC Brothers’ order is an unwritten law which is implemented by the general public and the traders of the town. One such example is an order to plant 1 lakh plants and ensure the plant's survival and its growth. Every trader has to take care of at least 5 plants in his shop's vicinity and if that did not happen, the shop keeper will have to close his shop until he replaces the dead trees with similar age trees.

Ramana Reddy, a trader talking to' The Hans India' said that initially there was an uproar over such harsh directives but gradually the traders and people understood the spirit behind such a directive and fully cooperated with the MLA and the municipal commissioner. He adds that only a dictatorial democracy can bring in a semblance of discipline in a disorderly Indian society.

Municipal Commissioner Sabbi Siva Rama Krishna told 'The Hans India' that tree plantation was enforced by the civic body with some riders attached and also the MLA's political resolve had made 1 lakh trees plantation an astounding success.

This resulted in boosting the air ambiance and oxygen levels to the highest standards. The air ambiance report of the National Pollution Control Board has indicated very high oxygen levels due to 1 lakh living trees in the town spread in a 7 square kilometre area.

The miniscule municipality had has received as many as 43 international and national awards. German award has been received by the civic body for its effective waste management and massive tree plantation and contributing to climate change for the good in the town.

The prestigious Scoch national award was also bagged by the civic body on many fronts. It also received the JCB Clean Earth Award for its solid waste management. Chief Minister Nara Chandrababu Naidu gave the best municipal commissioner award to Siva Rama Krishna recently at Amaravati for those who bagged national and international awards.