Pollution Free Electric Autos For Garbage Collection, Hyderabad Tackles Two Problems With One Solution

New Delhi: India’s best state capital in terms of solid waste management, Hyderabad, upped its ante. Hyderabad’s municipal corporation is all set to replace its diesel run garbage collection trucks, and replace them with electric autos. The decision was taken by the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) following an announcement by KT Rama Rao, state minister for Municipal Administration and Urban Development, where Mr Rao said that electric vehicles will replace diesel trucks to reduce pollution.

GHMC has taken innovative steps to maintain cleanliness across the city, and in the last few years, has become more active at developing an all-round plan to decrease all types of pollution levels in the city. The civic body in its press release said that by replacing diesel trucks, it is hopeful of reducing 35 tonnes of carbon emissions per vehicle, in the next five years. Over 300 diesel trucks in the city will be replaced gradually by electric vehicles in the next two years, each having a tracking system installed.  GHMC officials will be able to monitor the vehicles from a centralised location and track their whereabouts so that instances of non-compliance can be tackled.

We want Hyderabad to become free from all types of pollution. Electric autos will be easy to track, so that we can monitor that there is no discrepancy in the garbage collected and the garbage transported to recycling units. Further, these vehicles will reduce the carbon footprint in the city as these will not emit hazardous smoke, said B Janardhan Reddy, Municipal Commissioner, GHMC.

To attain its objective of being a pollution free city, GHMC has also committed to plant over 40 lakh saplings this year. The plan, which is a part of the Telanganaku Haritha Haram Programme, will see large scale participation from residential welfare associations (RWAs) and NGOs, who will receive 35 lakh saplings. The GHMC will request these RWAs and NGOs to plant these saplings across the city. The remaining five lakh saplings will be planted by GHMC officials.

“Planting of more trees will ensure less pollution in the city. Increasing green cover in urban spaces is a challenging task, but we have urged residents to cooperate with us and plant saplings. People have showed interest in the project, and within the next few months, we will start handing out the saplings to the NGOs and RWAs,” said Mr Reddy.

The city of Hyderabad has already been declared open defecation free, and due to the GHMC’s relentless awareness campaigns, waste segregation is at an all-time high in the city at 85 per cent. With the introduction of electric garbage collection vehicles, GHMC not only plans to improve garbage collection but also successfully reduce pollution in the city.

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