Hyderabad: The Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) has spent Rs 2,100 crore on city roads and sanitation in a year, though both are in pathetic condition.
The civic body claimed it had spent Rs 1,200 crore for maintenance of roads and Rs 900 crore on sanitation. The figures come as a shock since no surgical changes are seen on the ground. Citizens have filed as many as 1,80,755 grievances pertaining to poor sanitation and road damage. GHMC officials were still in denial mode regarding the condition of the roads and drains, making the expenditure claims appear even more obscene.
According to highly placed sources in the corporation, GHMC has been paying Rs 168 crore annually as tipping fee to Ramky Enviro Engineers Ltd for disposing of garbage transported from the city. Another Rs 732 crore was spent on the maintenance of Swachh auto tippers, 227 garbage vehicles and 514 hired vehicles which transports trash from the city to the Jawaharnagar dump yard.
However, despite spending such large amounts, the sanitation scene in the city has gone from bad to worse in past three years.
Surprisingly, the gar-bage lifting has increased from 5,000 metric tonnes to 7,000 metric tonnes on a daily basis. Corporation officials claimed that they have been removing every bit of garbage produced in the city. Contradicting their statement, the civic body has been receiving over 500 complaints about sanitation every day.
This apart, the corporation has spent Rs 1,200 crore on city roads. The corporation has spent Rs 400 crore on the Strategic Road Development Plan (SRDP) and the remaining Rs 800 crore was spent on road maintenance. Sourc-es said there was a glaring disparity between the claims and the number of unresolved complaints received from citizens. The corporation has received over a lakh complaints pertaining to roads in a span of eight months this year, which was announced by the municipal administration and urban development minister, K.T. Rama Rao in all review meetings and various other forums.
GHMC officials, admitted to irregularities in the sanitation and engineering wing, said that though loot in sanitation was evident, the nexus between netas and officials was so strong that it could not be broken.
