Clean city award for MCH

By Our Staff Reporter

HYDERABAD, APRIL 18. The Municipal Corporation of Hyderabad has won the Clean city Award instituted by the Housing and Urban Development Corporation for the third consecutive year.

Cleanest city? The MCH Commissioner, Dr. P.K. Mohanty, though pleased, appeared to be surprised. "We had lost all hope because of the continuous and rank bad road cutting by various agencies. But, by God's grace, we got the prestigious award again," he said.

Encountering many a raised eyebrow at a press conference convened to announce the award here on Wednesday, the MCH Commissioner said a HUDCO team had visited the city last month and "saw for itself the cleanliness drive launched in the city."

But, where is the cleanliness, a reporter asked. Dr. Mohanty shot back, saying, "Where is the garbage? The HUDCO team did not take into consideration the road cutting works which are a must for making Hyderabad a futuristic city. Their sole criteria was cleanliness and solid waste management."

Dr. Mohanty said the MCH would not rest on the laurels and instead initiate steps to strengthen the solid waste management system and its monitoring mechanism in the city. "Sanitation will be treated as an emergency service." He said the solid waste management projects would be modernised at a cost of Rs.28 crores under the Mega City scheme to enable the MCH upgrade the mechanisation component from the present 35 to 60 per cent.

Five new landfill sites in different directions of the city would be acquired shortly to reduce pressure on the existing ones. He appealed to the Rangareddy District Collector and the HUDA authorities not to permit new constructions in and around the existing dumping yard at Gandamguda. "We have already closed the site at Golkonda and the same cannot be done in the case of Gandamguda dumping site, come what may."

Salary cuts

Dr. Mohanty was vocal about errant MCH employees. "There will be deductions in payments and salary cuts to habitual absentees among the MCH workers. During my last four visits to the Indira park, I found 20 workers absent all the time," he said. Hereafter, all the MCH sanitation workers, private sanitary supervisors and contractors have to report for work in uniform and work in two shifts - 6 to 11 a.m. and 11.30 a.m. to 2 p.m.

The stipulated wages of Rs.1,950 would be given to only those who work for eight hours in the two shifts - individual sweeping in the first shift and group sweeping in the next. "There will be heavy penalty for underemployment of labour, dumping of garbage in places other than the earmarked ones, non-clearance of bins and so on. Cuts will be imposed on contractors if attendance was not proper," he said, adding that the monitoring mechanism was being tightened with the introduction of multiple reporting system.

Clean ward awards would be instituted for both municipal and private sanitation workers based on fortnightly evaluation of their units.

The Commissioner also sent out warning signals to contractors, saying the erratic ones would be blacklisted. "There will be no fixed contract system. They will be reviewed constantly. It could be unit rate system for wards and localities or one or two solid waste management companies for the entire city. There should be no monopoly of anyone," he said. A code of conduct for contractors was also being introduced.

Clean slum initiative

He appealed to the community development societies and neighbourhood communities to engage sanitary workers and supervise the sanitation works. "We will bear the cost of their salaries if any association comes forward and takes up the sanitation works," he said.

Dr. Mohanty warned of a crackdown on establishments producing heavy garbage in the city - restaurants, function halls, shopping complexes and so on - and "gradual recovery of the full cost of sanitation".

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