YSRC Collected Tax, Neglected Waste: Narayana

Kurnool: Municipal Minister P Narayana has targeted the previous YSRC government, saying it collected garbage tax from people but failed to clear the mounting garbage heaps.

He said that nearly 85 lakh metric tonnes of garbage was left unattended across the state, the clearance of which has now become a huge challenge for the alliance government.

The Minister, accompanied by former MLA Kotla Sujathamma, inspected the legacy waste management plant at the dumping yard in Dhone, Nandyal district, on Tuesday. He was received by local MLA Kotla Suryaprakash Reddy as well as TD and BJP leaders. Narayana directed officials to speed up the garbage removal process and ensure visible results within the set timelines.

The minister said Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu has asked the administration to clear all legacy garbage across the state by October 2, Gandhi Jayanti. “Recycling works are progressing at a fast pace. Of the 85 lakh tonnes of garbage, 79 lakh tonnes have already been removed while six lakh tonnes remain.”

Explaining the progress, Narayana stated that out of 50,000 tonnes of waste taken up in Dhone, nearly 36,000 tonnes had been cleared in a single drive.

He said the government plans to establish waste-to-energy plants in the state to effectively tackle the garbage crisis. Such practices are successfully implemented in countries like the US, China, Russia, Japan and Singapore.

Narayana said that in 2014, the Telugu Desam government sanctioned 10 waste-to-energy plants, of which the Visakhapatnam and Guntur projects were completed. However, the remaining eight projects were stopped by the YSRC government. “The present government sanctioned six more plants, and work on four has begun.”

Municipal commissioner Prasad Goud, RDO Narasimhulu, MRO Ravi Kumar and others also participated in the programme.