GHMC urged to act tough on litterbugs

Rajendranagar: In order to bolster the on-going campaign, 'Saaf Hyderabad - Shandaar Hyderabad,' the GHMC Rajendranagar is contemplating to impose penalties to control unabated throwing of garbage in the open and by enforcing stricter norms against littering in open.

In this endeavour, the GHMC officials on Tuesday organized a meeting under the aegis of 'Saaf Hyderabad Shaandaar Hyderabad' (SHSH) for the sanitary officials, staff, sanitary jawans and volunteers of Shastripuram and Mailardevpally wards under Rajendranagar constituency.

GHMC Zonal Commissioner (Charminar) B Srinivas Reddy, Corporator Shastripuram ward Misbahuddin and Corporator at Mailardevpalli T Srinivas Reddy, Deputy Commissioner (Rajendranagar) D Pradeep Kumar and HMWS&SB officials, besides volunteers of NGOs and Residential Welfare Associations (RWAs) participated in the meeting.

While addressing the meeting, the Corporator of Shastripuram took serious note of littering in open in the residential colonies by the residents. He urged the GHMC officials to act tough against those who are throwing garbage in open plots and to impose penalties against them.

"If possible the GHMC must involve the police to enforce the rule strictly against littering the surrounding, as it is detrimental to the dream of achieving 'Saaf Hyderabad and Shaandaar Hyderabad.' People who are throwing the garbage in open must be dealt with severe punishment and penalties should be imposed against them. Besides counselling should be done for at least 2 to 3 days by summoning such individuals to designated places under the supervision of local police, just as it is being implemented in drunk drive and under-age driving cases," he noted.

The Corporator of Mailardevpally lauded the efforts of GHMC and felt that SHSH was a very good initiative taken up by the Civic body. "The civic body is toiling hard to make the city neat and clean and in this quest the efforts are being put in place to bring awareness among the people about the benefits of cleanliness and healthy environment.

In their endeavour, they have already eliminated many garbage vulnerable points and open dumping bins. However, the lack of proper infrastructure is coming in their way as a road block. To achieve 100% door-to-door collection, sufficient infrastructure should be put in place," he pointed out.

With regard to unabated throwing of garbage in open, he said that there was a need of a new penalty system and a new reinforcement wing, not only to deal with unabated throwing of trash in the open, but also to curb the spillage of sewerage on the roads as well.

"This meeting should not be turned as eyewash and a customary approach for the public issue. The GHMC workers too should be brought under the ambit of accountability and be penalized for the dereliction in their duties," said Mohammed Jahingir, area sabha member of Hassan Nagar.