Date:16/09/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/09/16/stories/2008091659170300.htm

Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad

GHMC on a clean up overdrive

Special Correspondent

650 tonnes of waste and debris lifted since Sunday night

-Photo: G. Krishnaswamy

Eco drive: GHMC workers cleaning up Hussainsagar on Monday.

HYDERABAD: This year the Ganesh idols immersion at Tank Bund and NTR Ghat went on till the morning rush hours of Monday but GHMC was up to the task. Much before the last idol was lowered into the waters of Hussainsagar Lake, its health and sanitation wing began cleaning up operation in parts of the Old City right from midnight.

At the main immersion site, it went on an overdrive and in two hours flat literally scrubbed the streets clean in and around the area pressing into service its men and machinery. Additional Commissioner (Health & Sanitation) R. Rama Mohan Rao said that 650 metric tonnes of waste and debris was lifted since Sunday night, a good 100 metric tonnes more compared to last year.

He attributes it to more number of make shift tents and stages put up by businessmen, predominantly in Abids and Basheerbagh areas, to distribute free ‘prasadam’ and water sachets.

“We had to pump water before brushing roads and pavements clean in these places as food packets were glued making it difficult for sweeping machines to pick up,” said Mr. Rao. Three hundred vehicles of different capacities carried the waste to the dumping yard. In fact, GHMC Commissioner and Special Officer S.P. Singh and senior officials toured some areas to monitor work from night itself.

Mopping up was extensively taken up in other places too like Liberty, Himayatnagar, Lakidikapul, Masab Tank, Mehdipatnam, Begum Bazar, Feelkhana, Pathergatti, Khairatabad, S.P. Road, M.G. Road, and so on, with as many as 3,000 workers pressed into service. Night sanitation groups did a double shift too to restore thoroughfares back into shape. Mr. Singh congratulated all for having worked round the clock to clean up the city. He informed them about the Chief Minister’s appreciation about a good job done. “It was a gigantic task but was done orderly,” he said. In the meantime, the Buddha Purnima Project authorities are gearing up to take up dredging of Hussainsagar Lake. Director N. Chandramohan Reddy said already 25 lorry loads of material was removed from the water and about 500 workers will be engaged to remove the silt. Up to 18,000 idols of all shapes and sizes were estimated to have been immersed on the last day here.