Waste generated during festival chokes garbage transfer points, GHMC to set up 18 more

The Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation’s garbage transfer stations are proving insufficient to handle the enormous waste generated during the Ganesh Chathurthi festivities for 11 days, prompting the civic body to mull over increasing the number of transfer stations in the city.

The GHMC has a total 42 transfer stations/Secondary Collection & Transfer Points (SCTPs) across the city. Of these, five are major transfer stations equipped to handle waste of over 300 tonnes per day, and located at Imlibun, Lower Tank Bund, Nagole, Kaithalapur, and Yusufguda.

At 11 SCTPs with static compactor equipment, the waste received per day amounts of 200-300 tonnes per day. They are located at Katedan, Miralam Tank, Amberpet, Neredmet, Autonagar, Devendernagar, Jiyaguda, Jagadgirigutta, Machabolarum, Deeptisri Nagar, and Patancheru.

Sixteen more SCTPs are equipped with portable compactors, and can handle waste to the tune of 50-80 tonnes per day, while at 10 SCTPs equipped with Refuse Compactor Vehicles, the solid waste received ranges between 20-30 tonnes per day.

Solid waste collected from across the city is first taken to the transfer stations or SCTPs where it is segregated and compacted before being carried to the centralised solid waste management facility at Jawahar Nagar.

During the 11 days of Ganesh festivities, the solid waste per day was reportedly enhanced by 1500-1600 tonnes per day, leaving the civic body gasping for time to handle the enormous increase. Transfer stations/points filled up in no time, making the clearance an onerous task.

The GHMC has informed that since August 27, the festival day, up to Sunday, September 7, a total 20,000 tonnes of waste was collected in addition to the daily average. The immersion points and procession routes are still being cleared of waste, hence the figure is set to increase. A total 14,480 sanitation workers, forming Ganesh Action Teams, worked round the clock to clear the streets of waste. The workers were provided garbage bags, which has increased the pace of waste collection, but the SCTPs could not match the speed.

In view of the present situation, GHMC Commissioner R.V. Karnan is reliably learnt to have taken a decision to increase the number of transfer points by 18 more, taking the total figure to 60. He reportedly handed over the task of identifying locations to set up the new SCTPs to the Joint Commissioners of Sanitation. They are to conduct field inspections and come up with the report within 15 days.