650 more Swachh auto tippers join fleet in Hyderabad

To ensure effective door-to-door garbage collection

Hyderabad: Providing an impetus to its sanitation initiatives, the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) is adding 650 more Swachh Auto Tippers (SAT) to the present fleet of 2,500 SATs, and extending the reach of door-to-door garbage collection to the nook and corner of the city.

Every day, GHMC sanitary section collects over 5,500 to 6,000 metric tonnes of solid waste from the city. Under the Swachh Hyderabad initiative, to ensure effective door-to-door garbage collection and transfer of the same to the transfer stations, the civic body had introduced 2500 SATs. Yet, the municipal corporation observed that there are several colonies which were not being served by the SATs. As a result, the waste was being dumped on the roadsides and dumper bins, which usually overflow with trash in such areas.

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Municipal Administration and Urban Development Minister KT Rama Rao during a meeting with the civic body officials last month had directed them to procure 650 more SATs under the Driver cum Owner (DCO) scheme to cover all the areas of GHMC for door-to-door garbage collection.

Mayor Bonthu Rammohan instructed the officials to rationalise the zone-wise distribution of the new SATs and ensure all the areas in the municipal corporation limits were covered. This apart, the Mayor also instructed the officials to take up the servicing and body remodeling of the vehicles, facilitating twin boxes for collection and dry and wet waste.

Each SAT will cover 400 to 800 households through the vehicle and collect segregated garbage and transfer the same to the transfer stations. Under the DCO scheme, SAT operators earn about Rs 20,000 a month as fee from houses, besides additional revenue through sale of recyclables.

On its part, the GHMC will contribute towards the monthly loan repayment on successful collection of garbage per month. More importantly, under the DCO scheme, the beneficiary contribution will be just 10 per cent of the total cost of the vehicle and the rest will be raised through loans from banks with a repayment option of 72 months.

The measures have been initiated to ensure sanitation and scientific disposal of the waste in GHMC limits. In the Swachh Survekshan 2020 rankings, GHMC was awarded the No 1 rank in the ‘Best Mega City in Citizen Feedback’ (above 40 lakh population) category. It had also bettered its last year’s ranking to be positioned at 23rd in the ‘Above 10 lakh population’ category for overall performance, again beating other metros such as Greater Mumbai, Bengaluru, Chennai and the North and South Delhi Metro Cities.

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