City turns into dumping yard

• Existing dumping yards full
• Acquisition of land for new dumping yards becomes a problem
• People oppose dumping in residential areas
• Officials fail to lift garbage, turning streets into mini-dumping yards
• Recycling units remain closed

Vijayawada: The State's political capital and business hub, Vijayawada, has been turned into a dumping yard for garbage with the officials failing to monitor clearing the waste for the past two days. The opposition from the residents to use the lands in their areas for garbage dumping and the officials' failure to acquire new land has resulted in the city turning into the dumping yard. The city with around 15 lakh population generates 500 tonnes of garbage every day which has been hitherto shifted to the dumping yard at Pathapadu on the outskirts of the city. However, with the residents of Pathapadu opposing further dumping of garbage, the officials have tried to use the Sriram Energy Plant, as temporary dumping ground, as the recycling plant was closed about a year ago. Here too, the residents have opposed dumping of garbage leaving officials nowhere to go. Though the civic body had tried to acquire 100 acres of land at Agiripalli, it could not materialise with resistance from the people of the area who were supported by the Left and the Telugu Desam. The VMC, which had already paid Rs 9 crore for the land, is waiting for clearance from the district administration to acquire alternative land. The land at Kadiyam Pothavaram near G Kondur has become too far for the garbage to be shifted now. The vehicles are taking more than an hour to reach the 40 km distance for dumping. Unfortunately, this was also not working out for the civic body as 80 per cent of the vehicles used for garbage lifting are not working. With all these problems, the civic officials were unable to lift the garbage from the streets for the past two days. The garbage near Rythu Bazar, on the side of the Sub-Collectorate, near Pushpa Hotel Centre, the SRR and CVR College, Sunnapubattilu Centre and the busy Radham Centre was not cleared for the past two days causing inconvenience to the people. The stinking smell emanating from the garbage bins is causing severe difficulty for the pedestrians. The situation is likely to turn worse in the days to come if the garbage is not lifted for two more days. It is to be seen how the officials would handle the issue taking the severity of the problem before the city is called the garbage dumping yard.