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Public Health / Sanitation

Plan to increase sanitary divisions in city

Friday, 04 February 2011 05:31 administrator
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The Hindu       04.02.2011

Plan to increase sanitary divisions in city

Staff Reporter

The higher authorities of the Vijayawada Municipal Corporation (VMC) are keenly pursuing a proposal to increase the number of sanitary divisions in the city even as there is, apparently, an acute shortage of sanitary staff.

Official sources said that there was a proposal to create at least another 10 divisions as against the existing 34 divisions. Earlier they toyed with the idea of creating 59 sanitary divisions equal to the total number of divisions in the city. The officials later brought down the number to 44. But even this proposal could “cast a spell on the work and work force” as there is already a shortage of about eight sanitary inspectors for the existing sanitary divisions. “The remaining vacancies have been adjusted with maestris,” sources said.

Now, if there is any further increase in the number of divisions, it would only lead to acute shortage of sanitary inspectors. The Corporation would have to manage the newly-created divisions with maestris either based on seniority or educational qualification. It would have a cascading affect on the maestri strength. At present, there was a shortage of at least two maestris in each division, the sources said.

Vacancies

Likewise, the vacancies of field staff that arose due to retirement of workers have not been filled so far.

At least 100 workers would have retired, but the vacancies have not been filled. While there is a requirement of about 100 workers in each division depending upon the jurisdiction, there are 70 to 100 workers in each division now. The move to increase the sanitary divisions would require more field staff, maestris and supervisory staff like sanitary inspectors. As there are meagre chances of recruiting new faces, the Corporation would have to “adjust the existing force”, the source explain.

The officials fear that the proposal would badly hit the sanitation in the city as the existing staff “would have to be adjusted” for the newly formed sanitary divisions as well.

 

Resolution on hotel food prices

Tuesday, 01 February 2011 10:17 administrator
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The New Indian Express        01.02.2011

Resolution on hotel food prices

The Corporation Council that met here on Monday decided to ask the State Government to bring about uniform prices in hotels in the city. A resolution introduced in the Council by Ambalathara ward councillor A Mujeeb Rahman said that ordinary hotels in the city were collecting exorbitant rates for eatables.

The rates vary from hotel to hotel and most of them do not publish the price chart. The Council approved the resolution asking the State Government to take steps to stop the practice.

ROADS

Roads once again turned out to be a topic of discussion in the Council. UDF leader Maheswaran Nair said that the maintenance works listed by the previous Council led by C Jayan Babu have been removed from the list by the present Council. Works Standing Committee Chairman V S Padmakumar said that all works undertaken by the previous Council were completed by the present Council. If any works have been left out, they will be included in the Plan fund and carried out, he said. Some councillors alleged that though works were not done in their wards, they have been officially listed among wards where works have been carried out. Padmakumar said that all maintenance works will be scanned and details furnished before the next Council meeting.

PUBLIC MEETINGS

The Corporation is toying with the idea of levying a fee for using public places under its purview by private parties or political parties. Many places in Ambalathara and Peroorkada are being used by parties to hold public meetings or conduct rallies. The Corporation is thinking of charging a fee for such use, Deputy Mayor Happykumar told the Council. Presently, Poojappura grounds are not being let out for purposes other than sports. This would be reviewed at the all-party meeting to be held on Wednesday, the Deputy Mayor said.

BUILDING PERMIT ADALAT

The Corporation-level building permit adalat being conducted by the LSG Department following complaints over giving away of TC numbers to houses will be held on Wednesday and Saturday. While complaints in the city related to main office will be heard on Wednesday, those under 11 zonal offices will be held on Saturday. The adalat will be held from 10 am to 5 pm at the Corporation main office.

Last Updated on Tuesday, 01 February 2011 10:19
 

Civic move to achieve a clean, green Salt Lake

Tuesday, 01 February 2011 08:43 administrator
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The Times of India      01.02.2011

Civic move to achieve a clean, green Salt Lake

Suman Chakraborti , TNN, Feb 1, 2011, 04.25am IST

KOLKATA: The Bidhannagar Municipality has launched its Green City Clean City programme in Salt Lake. Under the programme, the staff engaged in waste management will collect the daily garbage in the township and dump it directly in Mollar bheri, minimising the use of vats as far as possible.

The Green City Clean City initiative has been taken with the plan to completely abolish the vat collection system. The workers engaged in sweeping the streets and collecting the daily accumulated garbage have been provided with gloves, masks and uniforms. The workers will clean up all the roads in the township.

"It is a new system that we are now experimenting with and trying to fully implement for the entire township. Apart from the existing set-up, we are bringing five more garbage collecting trucks very soon," said chairman-in-council (waste management) member Debasis Jana. The civic authorities will spend about Rs 15 lakh for the project. The authorities have in fact increased the budgetary allocations implementing the scheme.

The workers have been divided in such a way that each of them will be looking after some particular lanes inside the blocks. The project has been launched from AE and BE blocks and will further spread to other areas of the township. The waste is collected from all the individual residential houses and there are separate bins to dump specific types of garbage. The garbage on the roads is also collected and put into the bins. After mass collection, the garbage is then dumped in the trucks that goes directly to the Mollar bheri dumping ground.

Civic officials said it will take some time for the project to be fully operational across the entire township. "We are trying to remove the vat system in this way which is more systematic in nature," said a civic official. The old waste collection system through the vats will be steadily phased out.

Among the other long-term plans of the civic authorities is to carry out tree plantation programmes, beautification and maintenance of the islands and the green verges that falls in between the blocks and to switch to solar power for the lighting of the islands and for the streetlights, particularly for the added areas. 

 
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