GHMC ready to come to SCB’s rescue, rules play spoilsport

Secunderabad: The Secunderabad Cantonment Board (SCB) is caught in a catch-22 situation. The Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) is ready to lend gulper machines (vacuum trucks that have a pump and a tank to suck up slurry and clean up clogged drainages and septic tanks) but the rules do not allow the big brother to handover the machines.

As the rules do not permit the transfer of the equipment, the board is now planning to purchase the machines-J Ramakrishna
vice president, SCB

Recently, the Municipal Administration & Urban Development minister K T Rama Rao after reviewing the situation in Secunderabad Cantonment promised gulper machines and also directed the GHMC officials to handover the machines but the rules do not permit one civic body to transfer any equipment to another municipal body.

The SCB sanitation department superintendent Devender says, “There is a requirement of four machines, two mini and two big machines” The cost of the mini machines is Rs 10 lakh each and the bigger ones could go up to Rs 25-Rs 30 lakh each depending on the make.

There are 434 colonies spread over eight wards and on an average the SCB receives four to 10-15 complaints which it responds to by hiring private service providers. J Ramakrishna, vice president, SCB says, “As the rules do not permit the transfer of the equipment, the board is now planning to purchase the machines.” Tenders would be called for soon, he further added.

Officials say that the number of complaints doubles during rainy season and the machines need to be procured before the onset of the monsoon season. A senior official said that long time ago a tender for a big machine was called for but for several reasons it did not materialise.

There are several colonies where the drainage gets blocked. S Mohan Raj, a resident of Bolarum said, “The drainage system can no longer take the pressure. The population in the cantonment has grown several times since independence.”