The Hindu         24.09.2014  

GHMC to set up shelters for daily wage earners 

The Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) would set up shelters with amenities such as drinking water and toilets at different ‘labour addas’ of the city for daily wage workers hanging around in search of work.

At a meeting on ‘Unorganised Labour and Social Protection-A Programme for Inclusive Cities’, which was held as a pre-event to Metropolis-2014 meet on Tuesday, GHMC Commissioner Somesh Kumar said 50 plus labour addas were identified where workers hang around braving sun and rain each day looking for daily wage.

“We will construct facilitation centres with basic amenities and ensure the unorganised sector workers do not have to stand on the roads,” he said. The civic body has also finalised setting up shelters at seven major hospitals for patients’ attendants. These facilities with a capacity to accommodate 300 to 400 persons would be equipped with toilets, lockers and beds and set up in next six months, the Commissioner said.

Towards making Hyderabad a slum-free city, the GHMC has completed designs for approximately 500 sft two bedroom housing facility and the first of this scheme would be taken up at IDH Colony, Bhoiguda. “Tendering process is to be taken up and we expect it to be ready within five months,” Mr. Somesh Kumar added.

In his address, Labour and Employment Minister N. Narasimha Reddy said the Telangana government was committed to uplift the living conditions of workers in unorganised sector. “A change in society could be brought about by addressing the issues of these workers, who are not organised, scattered and are denied of privileges,” he said.

Labour Department Commissioner D. Ashok said schemes were being taken up to develop skills for unorganised workforce.

Sharad Rao, National President, Hind Mazdoor Sabha, Suneetha Eluri of International Labour Organisation and others participated in the one-day colloquium.

The Hindu       24.09.2014    

Government offices not segregating waste at source

A majority of the government offices in the city are not segregating waste at source, the norm that the BBMP introduced more than a year ago. This aspect was brought to the notice of the Karnataka High Court on Tuesday during the hearing of a batch of PIL petitions on the city’s garbage problem.

One of the members of BBMP’s expert committee on Municipal Solid Waste Management told a division bench comprising Justice N. Kumar and Justice B.V. Nagarathna that heads of all the departments should be asked to ensure that garbage is segregated as per the norm. BBMP Special Commissioner for Solid Waste Management Darpan Jain told the court that he would hold a discussion on the issue with all the heads of the departments.

Meanwhile, the Bench stayed the proceedings initiated by the Upalokayukta on a complaint against establishment of a waste processing unit on a civic amenity site in BDA layout at BSK 6th Stage. Since the High Court is already monitoring the waste-related issues, the Bench said any order by any other authority would result in conflict and asked BBMP to inform persons aggrieved of setting up of waste processing units to directly approach the HC.