Hyderabad gets nod for another waste-to-energy plant

Hyderabad: Municipal Administration Minister KT Rama Rao announced that the Union Ministry for Environment and Forests has given clearance for establishment of 28 megawatt waste-to-energy plant in Hyderabad.

The Minister, along with Animal Husbandry Minister Talasani Srinivas Yadav and Home Minister Mohammad Mehmood Ali, on Monday flagged off 1,350 Swachh Auto Tippers (SATs) at Sanathnagar. Speaking on the occasion, KT Rama Rao said that in Jawahar Nagar there was already a 20MW waste to energy plant, and recently the Ministry for Environment and Forests has given a nod for another 28MW waste to energy plant. Once this plant is made operational, with a total of 48MW waste to energy plants, Hyderabad will become the city with highest capacity plants that convert waste to energy in south India, he said.

Speaking about the SATs, the Minister recalled that earlier 2,500 autos were flagged off under Swachh Telangana programme and the daily garbage collection in the city was 3,500 tonnes. With improvement in efficiency through door-to-door garbage collection, provision of garbage stations and dumping yards, the garbage collection has gone up to 6,500 tonnes at present.

He added that from the last few years, Hyderabad has been receiving the best ranking among cities with a population of over 40 lakh under the Government of India's Swachh Bharat and Swachh Sarvekshan programmes. The Minister also praised the sanitation workers who work hard from 3am to 4am to collect the garbage and strive to keep the city clean. In recognition of the services rendered by the sanitation staff, the Chief Minister, K Chandrashekar Rao, has enhanced the wages three times during the last seven years, he added.

Now a total of 5,250 SAT vehicles will be working in the city. Of the 5,250 SAT vehicles, 4,500 were provided by the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) under Driver-cum-owner scheme and other 750 SAT vehicles were operated by private organisations. These vehicles are provided with a partition for carrying wet and dry waste separately and each auto can cover 450-500 households a day, he said.

City Mayor G Vijayalaxmi, Deputy Mayor Mothe Srilatha Shoban Reddy, GHMC Commissioner DS Lokesh Kumar and others were present.