Hyderabad: UFERWA campaign to make city garbage-free

Hyderabad: Has the city become bin-free? Is it garbage-free? At the ground level in many areas garbage is found piled up on main roads. To create awareness and also to see that waste gets segregated in a proper manner, the 'Citizens Entitlements Campaign' members of the United Federation of Residential Welfare Association (UFERWA) have started a campaign to awaken the concerned officials and also to create awareness among the locals.

According to a survey done by members of UFERWA, in many areas, including Monda Market, Moghalpura, Kishanbagh, Musheerabad, Santoshnagar and Bholakpur, garbage is seen dumped on main roads, causing hardship to the locals to commute. In spite of complaints, garbage collectors are not removing it.

Syed Khaled Shah, a member of UFRWA and convener, Secunderabad zone, said, "Citizen entitlement campaign was introduced in 2018 and worked out till 2020. Recently, the GHMC removed bins, as a bin-free city means regular removal of garbage from streets. This seems to be a failed mission, as during our survey we found that in many localities garbage is dumped on roads. To create awareness and also educate the locals once again, we have planned to re-launch the campaign."

He said the campaign aims to take issues to higher authorities to ensure that complaints are redressed in a time-bound manner with accountability. "As garbage is not being segregated properly, we have planned to question the concerned officials on how garbage is to be separated. Also, we will visit each colony and educate locals on cleanliness and also create awareness on dry and wet waste.

"Also, the main reason for the delay in resolving many issues is that the GHMC officials had the practice of having interaction with the resident welfare associations periodically. A majority of issues were discussed. It will be better if it gets restored. Our main intention is to clear the dumped garbage from city roads. In this mission, various non-governmental organisations will be working with us. This campaign will be executed zones-wise," said a member of UFERWA.