97 villages in TS come under Centre's waste mgmt project

Hyderabad: In order to improve e sanitation in the villages, the Centre has taken up a pilot project in the State in solid waste management and it would be extended to all the villages based upon the results of the project.

Under the pilot project, several initiatives would be implemented in selected villages. It would be implemented in 97 villages of the state which have shown better performance in Swachh Bharat Mission programmes. Three villages would be selected from each rural district.

The programme is funded by the World Bank and it would be executed through the Swachh Bharat Mission Telangana wing. Guidelines have been issued to the villages where the pilot project would be implemented.

As part of the programme, distribution of dustbins, safety equipment (hand gloves and boots), construction of compost yard-cum-segregation shed and dumping yard would be taken up in coordination with the Panchayat Raj and Rural Development departments.

Apart from creating awareness among the village people about the solid waste management, the programmes aim at improving the working conditions of the sanitation staff.

The SBM officials said that every household would be provided with 2 dustbins, one blue and one green with 11- 15 L capacity with Swachh Bharat logo.

They would be procured by the district purchasing committee. The dust bins would be distributed to each household in the selected villages.

Gram Sabha would be organised to distribute dustbins to every household and to educate or create awareness among beneficiaries on segregating wet and dry waste at source.

The GP would be made responsible for source segregation of dry and wet waste at HH level, creating awareness through IEC activities, regular monitoring and training of sanitation workers about collecting waste from HHs.

Funds for IEC activities and trainings would be met from District SBM IEC funds. Every GP will utilise the services of their sanitation workers to collect the segregated waste using tricycles already provided under SBM (G) and take it to the compost cum segregation shed for secondary segregation.

Each sanitation worker would be provided with a pair of medium size reusable latex rubber hand gloves and a pair of PVC rubber toe gumboots as a safety and hygiene measure from SBM (G) funds.

Salary for sanitation workers and operational and maintenance cost would be met from Gram Panchayat and Finance Commission funds.

These funds could also be used to repair the tricycles if needed and to provide partition in tricycles wherever required.