Hyderabad: GHMC comes up with a blaring idea

Rajendranagar: In order to catch recalcitrant people off guard against throwing garbage or construction debris on wayside of roads, specially during midnight hours, the GHMC has introduced here a unique idea of Sensitised Caution Points (SCPs) with loudspeaker-laden camera at several hotspots where garbage is being thrown unabashedly.

The idea helps the civic body to chase away those throwing garbage on roads, specially during late night hours by monitoring the hot spots using camera and loudspeaker-controlled through specialised software.

The idea--backed by zonal commissioner, Charminar Ashok Samrat and Deputy Commissioner, Rajendranagar D Jagan--was mooted only last month and efficiently yielding results. Wayward people who came with loads of trash to throw it on wayside of roads during night hours were caught by surprise. They were chased away after hearing a warning blaring through loudspeakers.

It is said the initiative is something serious the GHMC has ever introduced to chase away people littering roads, specially during nights, only to create an unwholesome picture the next morning.

According to officials, there are 20 major and around 50 minor hot spots in Rajendranagar wherein garbage is dumped waywardly. The GHMC has now identified and set up cameras with loudspeakers at all these points to monitor the hot spots using a specially-esigned software application. "After finding it difficult to prevent illegal dumping of garbage or debris on wayside of roads, a special team was constituted to monitor the hot spots in Rajendranagar using a specially designed mobile application. The moment the GHMC team on the other side of the camera found someone approaching the location with a load of trash to dump it waywardly, the loudspeaker starts blaring the warning that dumping garbage on the location will attract a penalty of Rs.1,000 and even seizure of vehicles," informed Samrat.

Basically, the idea is being implemented as a pilot project under Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)," he said, adding "happy to see people close to the hotspots are coming forward to support through sponsoring a camera, a loudspeaker and a amplifier to set up a SCP that help us monitor the area throughout the day and even at night hours."

Explaining the day-to-day garbage treatment measures in circle 11, Anjaneyulu, the in-charge AMOH and sanitary field assistant, said, "being an area with a population of over five lakh, the Rajendranagar circle 11 generates approximately 300 metric tonnes of garbage every day."

To tackle the garbage issue, he said, circle 11 has a workforce of 600 supported by a fleet of 125 swatch autos. "To dispose of the garbage safely and on time, we have three temporary transfer stations at Kattedan, Mir Alam Filter and Bandlaguda from where trash is being carted away to the central dumpyard at Jawaharnagar," he explained.