Short-staffed, Vijayawada Municipal Corporation struggles to clean city

Vijayawada: Failure of the Vijayawada Municipal Corporation to get vacancies filled has resulted in sanitation in the deteriorating by the day. Despite the fact that nearly 80 sanitation staff on an average retire every year in the Vijayawada Municipal Corporation, the corporation has failed to fill these vacancies with new faces. There has been no recruitment of sanitation staff since 2010.

While, 300 workers have passed away in the last decade, as many as 230 sanitation staff have not been attending duties due to various reasons. This has added to the workload of the remaining staff who struggle to keep a city with burgeoning population clean. The VMC spends Rs 110 crore per annum on keeping the city clean. However, collecting garbage generated from households and commercial establishments in the city is a major effort.

The mounds of garbage keep on piling up, in proportion to the city’s population, which has been growing faster ever since it has been declared part of the state capital region. The city’s population now stands at 15 lakh and 2,900 CMYE and 677 public health workers struggle to keep 59 sanitary divisions, spread in an extent of 61.88 sq.km, clean. Around 550 metric tonnes of garbage is generated in the city of which 300 MT is generated directly from households.

While a majority of sanitation staff working in the VMC are aged between 30 to 45, 200 sanitation staff are above 55 years. For this above 55 workers, collecting garbage has become a tough task. The VMC authorities have urged the state government last year to recruit 1,800 additional sanitation staff. However, the government hasn’t responded yet.