Segregation of waste remains a non-starter

Tirupati: It is intriguing to note that segregation of waste at source which is a vital aspect of smart city project remains a non-starter in the pilgrim city. Municipal Corporation of Tirupati (MCT) was selected in the second round of smart city challenge following which a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) ‘Tirupati Smart City Corporation Limited’ was floated and a consultant was also appointed, a year back for the implementation of the project. 

Augmentation of drinking water supply and improving sanitation and health were taken up on priority basis under ‘Smart City Project’ which is under way in the city. The corporation’s Health department evolved plans for strengthening the door-to-door collection of household waste as a preliminary exercise before taking up the segregation of waste. While the door-to-door collection of waste though in force for the past several years in the 50 divisions in the corporation, it was not effective in many areas while surprisingly the segregation of waste under smart city project is yet to begin in the household collection of waste. 

As many as 150 were engaged by the civic body for collection of waste from the residences in the 50 divisions in the city in addition to the Corporation arrangement for daily collection of waste from the dumper bins (3.5 tonne capacity) and compact bin (1.5 tonne capacity) set up in various localities for disposal of waste. It is interesting to note Tirupati generates about 220 MT waste daily which is much higher compared to other town with same population, thanks to the huge number of pilgrims numbering 70,000-1,00,000 arriving from various parts of the country necessitating the civic administration to focus more on health and upkeep of the temple city. 

MCT through the students of Sri Padmavathi Mahila Viswa Vidyalayam conducted an awareness campaign for residents and also for those engaged in the door-to-door collection of waste, for segregating the waste. MCT sanitary superintendent Gowardhan said efforts to take up the segregation of waste was delayed due to various reasons including the residents is still to adopt segregating the waste before it was collected under door-to-door garbage collection and also due to delay in introducing micro pockets system for health and sanitation works in the city. As part of the state-wide policy, the government decided to introduce ‘micro pockets’ under which the sanitation and health works will be given on contract basis to a contractor replacing the present system of civic bodies engaging workers on outsourcing basis now. 

He said the new system ‘micro pockets’ is expected to start soon paving the way for the segregation of waste at source to make the city smart. However, sources said another reason for the delay in segregation of waste at source was corporation not focused on it, expecting the commencement of waste-to-energy project. The power generation project requires huge quantity of waste without any segregation that way relieves the task of segregation of waste received from households here. Due to various reasons, the plant is yet to be materialised.

BY G Sridhar