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Poll waste keeps civic staff busy in Hyderabad

In the last fortnight, GHMC's sanitation wing clears a whopping two lakh election paraphernalia material, including banners, posters, boards and flexies

By S. Sandeep Kumar

Published Date - 6 December 2020, 12:03 AM

Poll waste keeps civic staff busy in Hyderabad — Sanitation workers cleaning roads

Hyderabad: All the heat and dust generated by the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) elections has settled. But without many knowing, even as political parties were engaged in a fierce battle, the corporation’s sanitation wing too was working tirelessly. In the last fortnight, they cleared a whopping two lakh election paraphernalia material, including banners, posters, boards and flexies.

Apart from these, banners, buntings, caps, scarfs, pamphlets and others that were used during road shows by different political parties across GHMC limits were being cleared soon after the campaign parties moved to another spot. On an average, about 5,500 metric tonnes of municipal solid waste is generated in the city daily. However, in the fortnight that preceded the polls, the average collection of solid waste was about 5,900 tonnes.

Since November 17, the day the poll notification was issued to December 4, the counting of votes, there was considerable increase in the waste generated in the city, and this was mainly from the campaign trails of different candidates in the fray for the municipal corporation elections.

The Enforcement wing of the municipal corporation as part of the implementation of the Model Code of Conduct constituted 19 special teams. This apart, eight incharge officers were appointed to supervise the anti-defacement work. In addition to this, the sanitation wing of the municipal corporation intensified efforts to clear the regular trash and the political paraphernalia material. During the last fortnight, the highest collection of 6,499 metric tonnes was recorded on November 29, the last day of the campaigning.