From dump sites to ‘selfie points’: City’s clean-up gets a makeover

Hyderabad: Maintaining sanitation across the newly expanded Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) has emerged as a formidable challenge for officials as the city scales up to 12 zones and 300 wards. Municipal Administration authorities are particularly concerned about the 27 recently merged Urban Local Bodies (ULBs), where a shortage of manpower, machinery, and funds has historically hampered waste management.

A senior official noted that these merged areas often struggle with improper drainage lines, sewage overflow, and a lack of public bins. To address the manpower deficit, the government plans to increase the sanitation workforce from 18,000 to 20,000. Currently, the majority of these workers are women recruited through approximately 2,600 self-help groups (SHGs).

Chief Minister Revanth Reddy, during a review meeting on Tuesday, directed zonal commissioners to be on the field daily to monitor cleanliness. Acknowledging that waste management is the city’s toughest hurdle, the Chief Minister emphasised that the responsibility now lies with the zonal heads to ensure consistent service delivery.

In response, GHMC Commissioner RV Karnan has launched an ambitious sanitation drive that will sweep across all 300 wards daily until 31 January 2026. This marks the first major cleanliness effort since the recent delimitation of wards. The campaign began on 29 December with the cleaning of foot-over bridges and will progress to flyovers, dividers, central medians, and kerbs.

The drive also targets the removal of construction and demolition (C&D) waste, cleaning of lakes and nalas, and the elimination of Garbage Vulnerable Points (GVPs). In a bid to foster community pride, the GHMC is transforming former dump sites into aesthetic "selfie points" adorned with wall paintings and plantations. Resident welfare associations, however, have cautioned that for the drive to be sustainable, the corporation must improve the enforcement of spot fines for littering and encourage better waste segregation at source.