Sakina Fatima
Hyderabad: The Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) is adding 650 more Swachh Auto Tippers (SAT) to the present fleet of 2,500.
The municipal corporation observed that they are several colonies that were not being served by the SATs. As a result, the waste was being dumped on the roadsides and dumper bins. The door-to-Door garbage collector must reach nook and corner of the city. The measures have been initiated to ensure sanitation and scientific disposal of the waste in GHMC limits.
Municipal Administration and Urban Development Minister KT Rama Rao, during a meeting held last month with the officials, had directed them to obtain more 650 swachh auto trippers (SAT) under the Driver Cum Owner (DCO) to cover all the areas.
Each Swachh Auto Tipper will cover 400 to 800 households and collect segregated garbage and shift the same to the transfer stations. They collect over 5,500 to 6,000 metric tonnes of solid waste from the city.
Under the DCO scheme, SAT operators earn about Rs 20,000 a month as a fee from houses, besides additional revenue through the sale of recyclables.
On its part, the GHMC will contribute towards the monthly loan repayment on a successful collection of garbage per month. More importantly, under the DCO scheme, the beneficiary contribution will be just 10 percent of the total cost of the vehicle and the rest will be raised through loans from banks with a repayment option of 72 months.
In the Swachh Survekshan 2020 rankings, GHMC was awarded the No.1 rank in the ‘Best Mega City in Citizen Feedback’ (above 40 lakh population) category. It had also bettered its last year’s ranking to be positioned at 23rd in the ‘Above 10 lakh population’ category for overall performance, again beating other metros such as Gre