SP Working Paper Series

Working Paper No. 34

Local Government Led Solid Waste Management in a Metropolis Hyderabad-Secunderabad

Darshini Mahadevia Manish Pathak

December 2005

School of Planning
CEPT University, Kasturbhai Lalbhai Campus
University Road, Navrangpura, Ahmedabad 380 009

The School of Planning Working Paper Series

1. "Compressed Natural Gas Plan for Public Transport in Ahmedabad", by Shivanand Swamy H.M., Chittranjan K.V. and Naidu Pasala S.S. 2. "Towards Improved Protection of Housing Consumers: Need for Amending the Consumer Act? by Sangvan Sharmishtha and Mahadevia Darshini. 3. "Comparative Environmental Risk Assessment of Ahmedabad City", by Ray C.N., June 1996. 4. "The Process of Environmental Management Plan Development in Ahmedabad:, by Ray C.N. and Moga Josh, December 1996. 5. "Urban Poor: The case of the rickshaw Pullers of Dhaka, Bangladesh", by Ray C.N. and Jalal Jennifer, January 1997. 6. "The Auto rickshaw Service in Ahmedabad", by Patel Vatsal and Ray C.N. February 1997. 7. "Health Care System for Urban Poor in Ahmedabad", by Harode Dinesh, Ray C.N. and Mehta Rajesh, June 1997. 8. "Liberalisation and Urban Real Estate: Case of Mumbai", by Mahadevia Darshini and Singh Charanjeet, July 1998. 9. Strategy for Hospital Waste Management A Case Study of Ahmedabad, by Dr. C.N. Ray, Dr.Bashir Ahmadi and Mr. Arvind Kumar Singh, July 1998. 10. Citizens Charter in India: An Overview by Dr. C.N.Ray, 1999. 11. Forest Management Strategy: The issue of Joint Forest Management in India , by Dr. C.N. Ray, Nov -1998 12. Investment Climate in Orissa and Policy Guidelines for Development, by Rout, Piyush Ranajn, Mehta, S.S, June 1999 13. Natural Disaster in Eastern Coast of India the Super Cyclone in Orissa, by Dr. C.N.Ray, Rout. Piyush Ranjan, Dec, 1999 14. Management of Municipal Solid Waste Issues and Emerging Options for Urban Environment Managers in Developing Countries, by C.N.Ray, S. Bandyopadhyay, Piyush Ranjan Rout, February, 2000 15. An Enquiry in to Environmental Quality Assessment: A case Study of Ankleswar Industrial Estate, by Mona Vyas, Anjana Vyas, March, 2000 16. Factors Affecting Utilisation of Primary Health Care Centres in Rural areas: A micro level study of PHC Por, Taluka Vadodara, By Preeti Shroff, Dr.Shrawan Acharya, April, 2000 17. Strategic Plan for the Privatisation of Public Transport in Thruvananthapuram City, by Talat Munshi, Deepti Vijayan, 2000 18. Development Control, Building Regulation and Judicial Activism in Gujarat, by Dr.C.N.Ray, January, 2001 19. Earthquake relief and rehabilitation in Gujarat: Issues in Disaster Management, by Dr.C.N.Ray, June 2001 20.The Changing Scenario in the Garment Industry of India: Case Study of Ahmedabad, by Ms.Ruchi Khurana, Dr.C.N. Ray, Dr.Jeemol Unni, June,2002 21. Solid Waste Management in Ahmedabad, By Dr.C.N.Ray, August,2002

22. Sustainability of innovative financing of urban infrastructure: Case study of Ahmedabad and Vadodara, by Ms. Arunima Mukherjee and Dr. Darshini Mahadevia, October, 2002 23. Autonomous Development Council as a Spatial Planning Unit in India: A case study of the Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council, by Vimal Khawas and Shrawan Kr. Acharya, April 2003 24. Structure and Recent Changes in Health Care System in India, by Dr.C.N.Ray, June,2003 25. Trend of Urbanization and Its Impact On the Riverine and Riparian Environment : A Case of Pune City, by Mr. Subhrangsu Goswami and Dr. C.N.Ray,August 2003 26. Urban Governance for Sanitary Waste Management Services in Jabalpur, by Gaurav V. Jain, Dr. Darshini Mahadevia, and Dr. C.N.Ray, January 2005 27. The TAWA Reservoir Fisheries Management: Experiences and Options, by Amalendu Jyotishi and R. Parthasarathy, February, 2005 28. Development and Maintenance of Public Gardens in Ahmedabad, by Dr.C.N.Ray and Ajaykumar S. Sanghvi, February, 2005 29. Infrastructure Development in Cities of China: Case of Beijing, by Darshini Mahadevia, March, 2005 30. Revitalizing Inner Districts of Bejing, by, Shrawan Kr. Acharya, April, 2005 31. Sustainable rural development: Traditional knowledge and institutional system, by Shrawan Kr. Acharya, August, 2005 32. Recent Changes in Urban Management: E-Governance initiative by the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation, by C.N.Ray, P.Panneervel, and Paresh Patel, November 2005 33. State, Development and Disaster Response: Disaster Management Bill 2005, by C.N.Ray, December-2005

Contents
1. Introduction................................................................................................................... 1 1.1. The Programme: Litter free Hyderabad................................................................... 2 1.2. SWM Status ............................................................................................................. 3 2. The System..................................................................................................................... 4 2.1. Sweeping.................................................................................................................. 5 2.2. Collection................................................................................................................. 7 2.3. Recycling ............................................................................................................... 12 2.4. Transportation........................................................................................................ 13 2.5. Power Generation .................................................................................................. 14 2.6. Dumping ................................................................................................................ 15 3. Actors and Their Roles............................................................................................... 16 3.1. Sweeping and Collection ....................................................................................... 16 4. Partnerships................................................................................................................. 18 4.1. MCH ...................................................................................................................... 18 4.2. Citizens .................................................................................................................. 19 5.1. Decisions................................................................................................................ 19 5.2. Awarding work ...................................................................................................... 19 5.3. Monitoring ............................................................................................................. 19 6. Budget for SWM in MCH .......................................................................................... 21 7. Observations................................................................................................................ 24 7.1. Positive Impacts..................................................................................................... 24 7.2. Issues...................................................................................................................... 25 7.3. The System ............................................................................................................ 27

Local Government Led Solid Waste Management in a Metropolis Hyderabad-Secunderabad

Darshini Mahadevia1 Manish Pathak2,3

1. Introduction
Hyderabad (or Hyderabad-Secunderabad twin city) is the sixth largest metropolis in India, with a population of 5.53 million in 2001 in the urban agglomeration. In 1991, the population of Hyderabad Urban Agglomeration (HUA) was 4.34 million, thereby registering a growth rate of 2.45 per cent per annum (p.a.) in the decade of 1990s. There has been a considerable slowing down of HUAs growth rate in the decade of 1990s, as compared to 2.45 per cent p.a. of the previous decade. In 2001, population of Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (MCH) was 3,449,878, an increase of 1.21 per cent p.a. from 3,058,093 in 1991. Secunderabad is a Cantonment area, and its population in 2001 was 204,182, an increase from 171,148, at the rate of 1.78 per cent p.a. in the decade of 1990s. Hyderabad is a historic city and hence parts Of the old city that has old historic districts, with some monuments in it of heritage values such as Charminar, the Palace, and so on. Hyderabad City is divided into two, by river Musi flowing east-west, the southern bank being the old city and the northern bank the new city. This is also a city of lakes, with Hussain Sagar lake at the border of Hyderabad and Secunderabad. The city is known for heritage buildings, Pearls and now for Information Technology (IT). Hyderabad has been declared as a mega city and hence can draw central Figure 1: Hyderabad in Andhra Pardesh government funds for mega city projects, if the city and the state governments are able to put in matching funds. The twin city has an area of 170.0 sq. km and is part of larger Hyderabad Urban Development Authority (HUDA) that spreads over 1864.0 sq km. The other towns in HUDA are Cyberabad (Cyberabad Development Authority-CDA), Secunderabad Cantonment (Secunderabad Cantonment Board - SCB) and Buddha Purnima Project Area (Buddha Purnima Project Authority - BPPA). HUDA is the planning authority for the entire HUDA area (except the three special authorities mentioned above; CDA, SCB and BPPA). MCH area forms just 9 per cent of the total HUDA area. MCH has jurisdiction over the twin cities except the SCB area. Besides the twin city and three special authorities mentioned, there are 10 Municipalities and 105 Gram Panchayats in HUDA 1

area. HUA consists of MCH, SCB, Osmania University, 10 Municipalities and outgrowths4. One of the Municipality of out interest is Kukatpally, whose case we have written. The twin city has 3000km length of road network maintained by the MCH. Hyderabad Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board (HMWSSB) is a separate agency, which looks after the water supply and sewerage in the MCH area. The water supply is metered and the sewerage system covers about 70 per cent of the MCH area5. Storm water drainage and Solid Waste are managed by the MCH itself. Hyderabad is one of the first urban centres, which has effectively experimented with a wide range of contracting system, starting from leasing to management contracting. MCH has been awarded with Cleanest City Certification for two consecutive years by rating agency Crisil.6
Figure 2: Hyderabad Urban Development Authority Area

1.1. The Programme: Litter free Hyderabad

MCH is working under a programme titled, Litter- free Hyderabad in the twin cities to bring about a major change in the city sanitation involving the citizens. The programme aims at segregating of garbage at source by the residents into organic waste and recyclable waste and converting the organic waste into nutrient rich manure by vermi composting locally. The Resident Welfare Associations (RWAs) in the housing colonies and Neighbourhood Committees (NCs) in the slums are participating in this programme. RWAs and NCs are permitted to establish Vermi composting centres in the localities. One time cost for setting up of vermi composting centre is provided by the MCH and the recurring cost for maintenance is generated by the agencies through collection of service charges, sale of vermi compost and recyclable materials. About 1.2 lakh households have been motivated through RWAs and NCs for the collection and transportation of garbage. However, presently, the segregation of waste has not been fully achieved as yet by the MCH. The twin city is divided into 52 wards under 7 circles. The city today generates 2200 Metric Ton (MT) of garbage daily. Of this 60 per cent (1300 MT) is from the residential sector and the remaining 900 MTs from nonresidential areas. MCH is able to manage this in spite of no new recruitments or retirements in the workforce for the last two decades. 22 per cent of the waste is collected at household level under Volunteer Garbage Disposal Scheme (VGDS), implemented through 2
600,000 194,319 207,258

HUDA Population (2001)

1,717,617

3,632,586

MCH SCB Others Outside HUA

10 Municipalities OG & CT in HUA

Figure 3: HUDA Population, 2001

Source: HUDA Development Plan, 2020

Neighbourhood Committees (NCs). 75 per cent of the road cleaning work is privatised using the unit rate system innovated by MCH. Private contractors sweep daily around 2000 km length of roads. Those who sweep the roads also manage the solid waste management. This programme of Litter-free Hyderabad has enabled the MCH to reduce transportation of 500 MT of garbage per day, save transportation cost of Rs. 4 crore (Rs. 40 million) per annum (of Rs. 12 crores annual cost) and reduce the need and the cost for development of landfill sites for disposal.

1.2. SWM Status

Of the total solid waste generated from different sources such as households (slums and non-slum areas), markets, other commercial spaces, and so on, 52 per cent is organic waste (Table 1). This consists of 5.99 per cent of leaves, 12.42 per cent of the fruits waste, another 18.08 per cent of vegetable waste, 8.88 per cent of coconut waste and 3.09 per cent of food waste. High percentage of coconut in the organic waste increases the calorific value, which is good for power generation. Many power generation and palletisation companies are showing their interests in MSW.
Table 1: Solid Waste Composition, MCH Solid waste item Leaves Fruits Hay & Straw Vegetables Food Waste Coconut Paper Plastics Metals & Minerals Glass Ash & Fine earth Fine organic Waste Stones & Bricks Others Rubber/Leather Racks Coal Wood & Metal Crockery Bones Earthenware Total
Source: MCH Handout

Proportion in total (%) 5.99 12.42 3.67 18.08 3.09 8.88 8.04 8.36 1.40 2.71 6.63 15.57 1.00 0.42 1.59 2.35 0.10 Nil Nil Nil Nil 100.0

The 21 per cent of the waste is recyclable as shown (Table 2). While 52 per cent of the waste can be composted, another 21 per cent can be recycled. The estimated value of waste that can be recycled is Rs. 3,118,179 per day. Annual value generated from the recyclable waste would be Rs. 1138.14 million, which is quite formidable amount. 3

Considering such large profits, a private company is trying to get the whole MCH wasterecycling contract.
Table 2: Price of Recyclable Materials, MCH Item Rate (Rs/ MT) Paper 3,750 Plastics 11,333 Metal 11,333 Glass 750
Source: MCH Handout.

Quantity (MT) 176 183 30 59

Total value per day (Rs.) 660,000 2,073,939 339,990 44,250 3,118,179

The solid waste generation within MCH has increased at a rapid rate especially from the household sector (Table 3). For example, from 1997-2003, the household waste generation has increased by 64.6 per cent, whereas from recreation places, it has increased by 51.75 per cent. Among all the sources, households generate the largest amount of waste and largest increase from this source is therefore a point to be noted.
Table 3: Change in Quantity of Solid Waste by Sources, 1997-03 1997 (MT) 2003 (MT) Households 1030.0 1695.0 Hotels 80.0 111.4 Markets 60.0 88.6 Slaughter 20.0 22.9 Hospitals 60.0 88.6 Recreation 80.0 121.4 Dairy 50.0 72.1
Source: ASCI, Hyderabad.

% Increase (1997-2003) 64.60 39.25 48.00 14.50 48.00 51.75 44.20

As per the projections, today the population of MCH is around 40.0 lakh. The total road length to be swept daily is 3000km. There are 3,850 notified collection points for garbage. Under the VGDS, around 600 RWAs and 247 NCs have been provided tricycles for garbage collection, covering around 1.2 lakh households. These schemes are not concentrated in any specific area but are spread across the city. Also, 1700 establishments like hotels, restaurants, function halls, markets, etc are generating bulk garbage, which are covered under Bulk Garbage Collection System. Biomedical waste is a separate system regulated by APSPCB (Andhra Pradesh State Pollution Control Board). Debris and Slaughterhouse waste collection is done separately by the MCH.7

2. The System
In this section, we have discussed the entire system of waste collection in MCH area, set up at the initiative of the corporation itself. The aspects covered here are:, sweeping, collection, vermi-composting case study, recycling system, transportation system, power generation and dumping.

2.1. Sweeping
According to the Supreme Court guidelines 2000, an efficient sweeping can support a better SWM, because one of the main problems is garbage on the roads. MCH has tried to achieve a better SWM via an efficient sweeping. The 8,000 strong conservancy workers consisting of the corporation staff and the private contractors sweep the city based on the formations called units (day & night) innovated by the MCH. There are some units that sweep in the day and the others that sweep in the night. Of the total sweeping staff, 3,592 are the corporation employees, and the rest are the employees of the private contractors, including the workers of the 14 DWCUA groups. Under Development of Women and Children in Urban Areas (DWCUA) scheme, women have made Shelf Help Groups (SHGs). 14 such SHGs have also been given the contract to sweep the streets. This is what is the innovation in Hyderabad and also many other cities in Andhra Pradesh. After the sweepers sweep the street, they collect the waste lying on the road and deposit the same in the dustbins. The placing of dustbins on the roads and streets is based on the peoples choice. Wherever they have been throwing the waste, that place is given a dustbin and it becomes a collection point. The collection system is spread across the city. This private contracting system of MCH has evolved with time. Initially, private contractors were entrusted with the sanitation contracts for cleaning the streets and collection of garbage. These contracts were not uniform in size and works were of various magnitudes. This was creating an unhealthy competition among the contractors and monitoring the works was turning out to be difficult. In 1995, the MCH began to contract out solid waste related services. 27 localities were identified and divided into two sectors for two separate one-year contracts. The contracts were awarded through competitive bidding to local firms and co-operatives that possessed the required manpower, vehicles, equipment and experience for the work. An internal evaluation revealed that some improvements were necessary for the effective functioning of this system. These improvements included better monitoring of contractors, a plan for movement of the vehicles, standardizing the payments by linking them to the quality of garbage removed, use of computerized weighing station at the dump sites, and assurance that minimum wages are paid to the workers. Following this evaluation and a study of Surats approach, MCH decided to increase the contracts for sweeping, collection and transportation of garbage to the official dumping sites. In 1997, the system of private contracting was examined and modified. The city was divided into uniform units of 8 km stretch road in colonies and 4 km on main roads. Accordingly, a unit rate based on minimum wages, cost of tools, implements, disinfectants and contractors profit was formulated. For lifting and transportation of garbage a stretch of road generating 7 MT of garbage was treated as one unit. The cost of transport unit was worked out based on the hire charges of the truck, minimum wages for labourers, cost of tools and implements, disinfectants, etc and contractors profit. 5

In 1998 MCH introduced a new unit-based system for private sector participation that integrated the two types of contracts for road cleaning at night and for sweeping, collection and transportation by day. About 40 per cent of the day units were then reserved for the MCH staff and the rest were decided to be given out to the private contractors. 100 contractors were then awarded day units and around 25 contractors night units. Provision was made for monitoring performance of the contractors through community action. An informal level community group was formed, consisting of five men and five women, whose daily certification was mandatory for the payment to the contractor. According to the MCH, these latest reforms saw the collection increase to about 90 per cent. On the whole, about 60 per cent of the work is contracted out. For inviting bids from the contractor, a notification is issued, which announces a contract bid after making an Earnest Money Deposit (EMD) of Rs. 1.0 lakh (Rs. 100,000). Of the total units required to clean the city, 25 per cent units are reserved for the MCH workers. Then, there is reservation for 14 DWCUA units. For the rest 160 packages, notification is issued. In response, the MCH receives around 7,000 to 8,000 applications out of which only around 5 per cent are disqualified. There is a reservation of 15 per cent for SC/ST contractors. Through drawl of lots, one token for unit and one token for contractor, units are allocated among the contractors. If a contractor does not want to work for the particular area than he/she can back out from the contract or through negotiation with other contractor can change the unit awarded. Area to be catered by the contractors has been kept same so as to avoid the difference in work and payments. A day cleaning work unit covers 8 km of road length to be swept by a work force of 15 women, 3 men and 1 supervisor with prescribed number of tools and equipments. A night cleaning work unit covers 4 km of four-lane road (Main roads) to be swept by 18 workers during night followed with day mopping by 8 workers. A transport work unit (day/night) has one truck with 4 workers for lifting and transporting 7 MT of MSW in 2 trips from all the collection points in the cleaning area. The contractors contract is for 7 months. There is no assurance that the contractor may get the work next time. Therefore the whole costing is done for the period of 7 months. The unit rates are calculated on the basis of three components, wages, equipments and consumables8. To the total cost of a unit, contractors 8.5 per cent profit, including income tax, is added. The contractor is supposed to be on the site for the period the work is on. Also, cell-phone expenses are given to the contractor so that he can be contacted any time the officials want. Doing one unit is not very profitable job for a contractor as he/she gets only around Rs. 4,000 per month. Therefore, many times the MCH awards 2 or 2.5 adjacent units to a single contractor. This would give one contractor an income of around Rs. 10,000 per month. Similarly, the cost of transport unit is arrived at by considering the vehicle hire charges, minimum wages for driver and workers, cost of fuel, lubricants and contractors profit including income tax at 8.5 per cent. On the lines of private contracting, the DWCUA groups are given work. These groups are registered under the community development department and come under the jurisdiction 6

of state government. The DWCUA groups enter into contracts with the MCH and undertake the works in the allotted areas involving all the members of the SHG in implementation and management.
Table 4: Sweeping Logistics, MCH Day Sweeping Units Day Lifting Units Night Sweeping Units Night Lifting Units MCH 93.0 124.0 ----Private 241.5 114.0 77.5 05 Total 334.5 238.0 77.5 05
Source: MCH Handout by Dy Ex engineer, SWM

Table 5: Summary of Working of Units Cleaning Unit (Day) 7 to 9 km of road length 15 female workers, 3 male workers and 1 supervisor Fixed scale of tools and implements for cleaning 1 tricycle for collection of sand and silt 8 hours of work from 6 am to 2 pm Transport Unit (Day) Lift 7 MT of solid waste in the cleaning unit area from the bins Engage one truck to transport the waste in two trips Engage one driver, 4 workers Fix a scale of tools and implements 8 hours, work from 12 pm to 3 am

Cleaning Unit (Night) 4 km of road length (double width road) 15 female workers, 3 male workers and one supervisor fixed scale of tools and implements for cleaning one tricycle for collection of sand and silt 8 hours of work from 10 pm to 6 am 8 workers (50%) for day mopping work for each cleaning unit, to work from 7 am to 3 pm Transport Unit (Night) Lift 7 MT of SW in the cleaning unit area from all the bins Engage one truck to transport the waste in two trips Engage on driver, 4 workers Fix a scale of tools and implements 8 hours of work from 12 pm to 3 am

Table 6: Costs per Unit for Different Activities Rs. per each night unit Lifting 41,334 Sweeping 69,250 Total 1,10,584

Rs per each day unit 46,834 48,853 95,687

Source:

From the MCH.

Unlike private contractors, these groups are more or less permanent as their contracts are for longer period (1-3 years). Mostly, these groups are allotted the unit where they stay so that it is easier for them to work. The 25 per cent units reserved for MCH workers are chosen on the basis of the distance between the unit and their residence.

2.2. Collection
The MCH introduced a voluntary garbage collection scheme in 1994 and it has been functioning since then. The scheme provides a full subsidy to voluntary agencies and resident associations to undertake house-to-house collection of garbage. The association submits a signed list of households it will serve. The subsidy covers a tricycle for every 100-150 households. The association is responsible for appointing and supervising the staff. 7

The tricycle puller must be paid at least Rs. 750 per month with every household contributing at least Rs 10. Under this scheme, about 600 localities, representing about 20 per cent of the population, have been covered. While the scheme is also operational for slum area by creating neighbourhood committees, the participating associations are mainly from middle-income areas. In other areas, residents themselves bring garbage to the MCH collection point.
Figure 4: Collection System, MCH

Bulk
Separate collection on user pay basis

Debris

Hospitals

Separate Collection

Collection Agencies

Transported to TS or SELCO

Dump in low area Collection

Common Treatment Plant

Figure 5: Solid Waste Management System, MCH Households

Street
MCH Workers

Contracto Day Night

RWAs in Non slum

NCs in slum Mobile units

VGDS

Bins, Sweeps, Collects from street & put in bins, transport open & concrete bins to TS or Exnora, etc

Bins

Exnor

Transfer Rag Landfill Sites

Rag

MCH RWAs partnership programme for area cleaning: So far, 4 RWA (including one all women welfare association) under Clean Hyderabad Programme have entered into MoU (Memorandum of Understanding) with MCH for undertaking cleaning work and transportation of MSW in their respective colonies The MoU specifies clear boundaries of the area, pin-pointed area cleaning plan and transportation route plan covering all the collection points, work norms time frame for cleaning and lifting operations and the costs. The association in each locality nominates a sanitation committee for daily monitoring. MCH pays the cost of the work every month to the association. Cost of one tricycle is Rs. 7,500 and the age of the cycle is around two years. But it can be maintained for longer period because only the base of the container is required to be changed which gets eroded by the waste. Other parts of the cycle can be maintained. About 600 RWAs and 350 NCs have been provided with the tricycles by the MCH. The tricycle puller segregates the waste collected from the households and sells the recyclable wastes in the recycling market. This possibility of selling recyclable waste in the market adds to the tricycle pullers income and acts as an incentive for participating in this work. Also, after collecting the garbage, he sometimes uses it for other purposes also. The tricycle pullers are mostly men.
Figure 6: The Tricycle Puller

There are 810 slums in the MCH area. All the slums are covered for cleaning services by the unit system. This is done through 2 systems, one through VGDS, where a community volunteer is paid minimum of Rs. 2,250 per month (for 300 households) to collect the garbage from the households and dumps in the nearest municipal bin. The term volunteer is used as the person voluntarily comes for this work. These are mainly men. The other system is mobile units, run by the MCH itself, in which a mobile unit, such as a tricycle or a tractor (in case of large slum) comes and collects the garbage from the households and streets. The mobile unit come generally once in four days and also on all special occasions such as festivals, holidays and visit by some important people. In some circles, the mobile units have been given to the private contractors. However, optimal standard of cleanliness is not being maintained in several slums. The infrastructure deficiencies and extreme overcrowding in the slums are the main reasons for the same. Expansion of the above system depends on participation of the RWAs and formation of NCs.

Table 7: Logistics of Collection, MCH Residents Welfare Associations (RWAs) The scheme is a MCH colony partnership programme MCH provides a tricycle free of cost to the colony association The association engages an operator for door to door collection and transportation to the notified collection point MCH will arrange lifting from this point to the landfill site by its truck The association pays honorarium to the operator raising fixed service charges from the residents Association maintains the tricycle The scheme is under operation in 600 colonies
Source: From the MCH

Womens Neighbourhood Committees (NCs) The scheme is a MCH slum partnership programme MCH provides a tricycle free of cost to the NC NC engages an operator for door to door collection on MSW and transportation MCH will arrange lifting from this point to the landfill site by its truck MCH sanctions monthly honorarium for one year to the NC who will pay to the operator In one year time NC will enrol all the slum houses in the scheme and collect the service charges The scheme is operational in 350 slums

The non-recyclable waste is put in the bins at the collection points. There are three types of bins put by the MCH, steel, concrete and open bins. The steel dumper bins are periodically lifted by the MCH fleet and the waste is carted to the transfer station from where it is filled in the trucks taking the waste to the dumping sites. The concrete and open bin garbage is transferred manually by the private contractors into the trucks, and then the waste is transported to the transfer station. Modern Dumper Placer bins (which are of steel) are provided at 1900 locations and in the balance 1950 locations RCC bins are provided. The Bio-medical waste generated in hospitals and nursing homes is covered under a special arrangement where the private agencies approved by the APSPCB, collect and transport the Bio-medical waste to their Hydroclaving / Autoclaving plants. The Biomedical waste is treated and finally disposed off at the plant sites. The firms collect the charges directly from the hospitals and nursing homes, according to the rate per number of beds prescribed by the pollution control board. The collected waste is segregated at the source as per the norms by the hospitals in different bins. So far, not all hospitals are covered under the bio medical waste treatment norms. APSPCB sends notices to other hospitals and nursing homes to get the facility of waste treatment before a set deadline. Presently, there are two common treatment units in Hyderabad for the disposal of Bio-medical waste. Under the principle of users pay, beneficiaries pay, and polluters pay, MCH has introduced the scheme of collecting user charges from bulk garbage generators in the city. 1700 establishments like hotels, restaurants, function halls, markets, commercial complexes etc., which are generating bulk garbage are identified and classified into 12 categories for levying user charges. A separate truck collects the bulk garbage from these 10

establishments and transports it to the landfill site or power generation plant. The charges are about Rs 1200 Rs. 1800 per month for the bulk collection. Mostly, this bulk collection goes to power generation plant as the calorific value of these wastes is high. Although, slaughterhouses are mostly outside the MCH limits, the concerned local authority on the user pays basis separately does their waste collection. MCH has a separate collection system for debris from construction sites. On the user pay basis, debris are collected and dumped into the low-lying sites. Also, contractors themselves collect the debris from their site and dump it on the sites demanded by the owners of the vacant sites. Presently, two RWAs are running Vermi composting in their respective area. One is Jubilee Hill Civic Exnora and the other is Exnora in BHEL town ship. One of them is discussed in detail in the next section. Zero Garbage - Vermi Composting: Jubilee Hills Civic Exnora (JHCE) In 1998, few housewives from the Jubilee hill society initiated the programme of collecting the garbage form the households and converting the same into organic manure through vermi composting so that there is a situation of Zero Garbage. An Exnora is formed by the residents. Around 2000 households are covered under this Exnora from Jubilee Hills, Kaveri Hills, Prashasan Nagar and Navnirman Nagar. A Vermi-Composting plant on a small scale utilizing 7 MT of MSW per day is under operation with the involvement of RWAs. Garbage is collected daily from each household between 7 am and 12 pm by a team of cycle rickshaw boys. Earlier they used to only collect from households and transfer it to the three collection points of the MCH to be taken to the dumping sites. But, now, they collect the garbage and transfer the same to the place where vermi-composting of organic solid waste is carried out. The MCH has provided land at no cost for the vermi composting plant. The private contractors cleaning the roads in the four societies also dump the garbage collected from the open bins and concrete bins to this site. There are: 13 tricycles, 4 of them have been given by the MCH, 16 workers including a supervisor and a collector. Workers are paid Rs. 2000 per month and the supervisor gets Rs. 2,500. There is a phone and a tube-well on the composting site for the efficient running of the system. Also the Exnora has concreted the entry road to keep the area clean. There is a dumping corner/shed where the garbage is dumped. Rag pickers come here daily to take away the recyclable waste. In turn they give Rs. 100 per week per head to the Exnora. Rag pickers have to be engaged on the composting site because the participating households do not segregate the waste at the source. The remaining segregated garbage is then put into the ditches of 3 feet depth with worms. It takes around 3 months for the waste to turn into manure. In a separate ditch only worms with cow dung are multiplied. Later the manure is sieved and the worms are put back again into the 11

ditch. The fine manure is sold at the rate of Rs. 4 per kg. Large packs of 40 kg per bag are also made for bulk purchasers. The Exnora had carried out awareness campaigns and workshops with the residents to induce them to segregate the waste at the source. However, this campaign did not get much response. Even the members of this Exnora think that garbage handling is the responsibility of the MCH and they would not want to do more about it than what they are doing now. The Exnora earns profit, which is used for the upgradation of the system and for the workers. The workers are provided dresses, bonus, education, etc. The boys employed here are called, Street Beautifiers and are able to get education and do other part time jobs. This job only requires morning 7 to 12 noon hours.9 But, there is also a problem. Young boys of are engaged in this task and such poor jobs could have been avoided if the residents of the 4 housing colonies were segregating the waste at the source. Benefits of the project: Clean Surroundings Disposal of garbage in a hygienic manner Increase in civic consciousness Garbage to manure Livelihood for unemployed youth

Figure 7: Vermicomposting Beds, Jubile Hills Exnora, Hyderabad

2.3. Recycling
The tricycle puller himself collects recyclable waste from the households and sells it in the market, which gives him an extra income. However, he does not collect all the recyclable wastes, and quite some recyclable material is still remaining in the garbage that is dumped on the collection point in the bins. Here, the rag pickers sort the garbage and collect whatever is saleable. These rag pickers come with a rickshaw and a large plastic bag, which they fill with the recyclable materials and take it to the buyer on the rickshaws. Mostly, they are in the age group of 10 16 years. They earn around Rs. 1,000 per month from the waste. The garbage collected from the households and the garbage brought by the private contractor is dumped in a corner of the Exnora site, if there is Exnora vermi-composting site nearby. Some recyclable garbage also reaches the land fill sites. Here too, rag pickers are employed. On the land fill site, two types of rag pickers are deployed, one picking paper, plastics, etc. and other pick only the metals such as iron. 35 families are rag pickers and 35 families are metal pickers. Metal pickers come during the night and burn the waste. In the daytime they pick metals using magnet from the waste inhaling all the smoke and toxic gases. These people live near the landfill site 12

in huts. They earn about Rs. 2,000-Rs. 2,500 per month.10 The rag pickers work in hazardous conditions. There was a proposal by a private company to the MCH for the buying of recyclable waste. They would provide strong bags to the tricycle pullers for collecting recyclable waste, which would be bought by the company. The bags would be washable so that they would be comfortable to be used by the collector. But the company wanted a guarantee from the MCH that the complete recyclable waste is made available to them, which the MCH denied stating that it did not have any control over the waste collectors or the rag pickers or their recyclable waste and that the waste collectors sell the recyclable waste to whomsoever they wanted to. The company did not want to give extra incentives to the waste collectors to ensure that the waste pickers sold waste to the company only. The company was interested in this business because it had calculated an income of Rs 31.41 lakh per day from the daily MSW. In other words, the private company wanted to streamline and monopolise the waste trade in the city, which is difficult because of large number of informal sector workers engaged in this trade that is highly decentralised.

2.4. Transportation
The handling of garbage at the local collection point for transportation to the nearest transfer station is manual where the collection bins are concrete or open. The private contractors workers manually transfer the collected garbage on to the tipper trucks or mini compactor trucks of the corporation, which come at a designated time. If the garbage collection bin is of steel, then the dumper placer vehicles mechanically lift the full steel bin and cart them to the nearest transfer station or landfill site. First an empty steel bin is placed at the collection centre and only then, the full steel bin is lifted for emptying at the transfer station. At present, 55 per cent of the garbage is handled manually and 45 per cent mechanically at the collection centre. There are 102 Dumper placer trucks with a carrying capacity of 2.5 MT each, 45 big Tippers (10 MT), 79 small Tipper trucks (3.5 MT), with the MCH. The MCH has taken the responsibility of transporting the waste to appropriate locations. The Transfer Station (TS) is a transit point in the movement of garbage to the landfill site or Solid Waste processing plant. It may be mentioned here that in Hyderabad, some waste is carted to a power plant for energy generation. Hence, the destination of the waste collected depends on the type of waste; the areas where composting is being carried out, the waste from the local collection point reaches the composting site where the rag pickers sort the waste and take whatever is recyclable for selling. The non-recyclable waste reaches the local collection centre to be 13

Figure 8: Steel Bins Emptied Into Trucks at Transfer Stations, MCH

picked up for transport to the nearest TS or a dumping site. If the waste is collected from those areas where there are no composting units then the waste reaches the TS through the collection point. Before the waste reaches the collection point, the waste pickers take out certain recyclable materials which they can sell and dump the rest at the collection point from where the waste is carted to the TS or the dumping site, whichever is the nearest. For biomedical waste, there is an altogether different system. In all these, Transfer Station is of immense importance, from where the garbage is taken to the dumping or landfill sites. At the TS, the garbage is brought in small Dumper placer bins and Tippers. The contents are transferred directly into large 10 tonner Tipper vehicles through a specially designed Hopper. The big Tipper Trucks take the garbage to the landfill site or MSW processing plant for final disposal. The small Dumper Placer vehicles need not have to travel long distances up to the landfill site, which on an average are located at 20 to 25 km away from the centre of the city. This saves travel time and the fleet can be better utilized for making extra trips resulting in effective cleaning and sweeping a neat and hygienic look to the city. There is a saving on the consumption of the diesel; thus the cost of the garbage transport is minimized. The wear and tear of the tyres Figure 9: Imlibaug Transfer Station and other components of vehicles are minimized by avoiding long trips and adverse conditions at landfill sites. Further, there is less traffic at landfill site thereby facilitating proper spreading of garbage and giving a better look at these sites. Presently, there are three transfer stations: Tank Bund transfer station Imliban transfer station Yousufguda transfer station One more transfer station is under construction at Jiaguda, which will be commissioned shortly. The MCH has a very good concept of transfer station. Presently they have three TS and they want to increase them to 7 i.e. one in each circle. There are around 70 trips of the 10-ton truck daily from the Tank Bund TS. It has a staff of around 45 (drivers and labours).11

2.5. Power Generation

Since the modern practice is of processing of solid waste rather than distancing and disposal, the MCH is encouraging enterprises to setup processing plants. One such plant setup by M/s. SELCO International was commissioned in December 1999. This plant is designed to utilize 700 MT of garbage every day to generate 6.6 MW of electric power. 14

It was set up to produce 105 tpd fuel pellets from MSW. The pellets produced from this project are being used as industrial fuel and for generation of power. Presently, SELCO uses only 400 MT of the waste that is supplied to it separately as it is getting the required power from 400 MT. A memorandum of understanding is signed with another firm M/s RDF Power Projects to process 700 MT of MSW to generate 11 MW of power. This plant is likely to commence construction soon. The power generation company is only allowed to sell power to the APTransco. Third party selling of power is not allowed.

2.6. Dumping
There are at present 2 landfill sites in operation at Autonagar (45 acres) and Gandhamguda (20 acres). Both these sites are equipped with the computerized weighbridges and other infrastructure like roads, high mast lighting etc. To ensure scientific disposal of Municipal Solid Waste, sanitary landfill sites are being developed with proper liners, network of roads, lighting, pumps, computerised weigh bridges, leachate drains, treatment facilities, proper fencing, environmental monitoring equipment etc. Mechanical equipment like front end loaders and bulldozers are being purchased for spreading the solid waste and capping with debris/ gravel layers. Final usage of landfill site for some recreational purpose after reaching fall capacity is contemplated. One such site has already been developed at the Golconda landfill site. Hyderabad requires 300 acres of land to set up a sanitary landfill site to last for 15 years at an estimated cost of Rs. 260 crores. About 14 acres of land required for sanitary landfill can be reduced for every 100 MT of waste processed. The MCH has around 108 acres of landfill site proposed near the HADA (Hyderabad Airport Development Authority) Area. It is at a distance of 10 km from the airport site. This site is too close to the airport, and for the development of this site, the MCH is required to take permission of HADA, in accordance with the SWM Act, which requires local authority to take permission from the concerned airport authority if the landfill site is within 20 km of the airport. According to the SWM Act, the MCH is required to take the permission of the airport only if the site is within the range of 20 km. Because of this problem, the issue of finalising the new dumping site is still pending. The Autonagar site, which is under use now, has been closed due to the protest form the residents and ensuing political pressure. There is therefore a real concern today with regards to identifying the location for a good landfill site for Hyderabad, given that the pressure on land is quite high in the city as well as in the rural areas.
Figure 10: Developed Landfill Site

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Actually, today pollution is not going into the development but the development is going into pollution says the executive Engineer of the MCH, implying that wherever a landfill site has been developed, builders move there. Cost of landfill site is around Rs. 1 crore per acre and the operation of it requires around Rs. 6 crores annually. That is why the MCH wants the waste to energy programme to increase so that the land requirements will not increase. Also due to this reason, MCH doesnt take any money from the power generation company. Same is true for vermi composting, if taken up at decentralised level, would reduce garbage reaching the site and thereby reducing the land requirements for dumping the garbage. Since MSW is dumped at open ground it gives rise to ground water contamination by leachate. With the overloading of the existing dumpsites MSW may have to be transported even further, escalating the cost of transportation. However, identification of land for new sanitary landfill sites has become a difficult task as numerous statutory exclusionary factors are to be complied. About 60 per cent of the municipal budget on solid waste management is spent on collection 30 per cent on transportation and 10 per cent on disposal. Environment Protection Training and Research Institute (EPTRI), Hyderabad has been appointed to identify vacant government lands around Hyderabad city, which are suitable for locating sanitary landfill sites and for carrying out environmental impact assessment study on these sites.12 MCH is actively pursuing with the HUDA to ear mark some sites suitable for sanitary landfill and also to notify 500 meter radius around these sites as no development zones/green belt areas in order to minimize any adverse environment impact.

3. Actors and Their Roles

3.1. Sweeping and Collection
Contractors Contractors manage the workers on the site, arrange the infrastructure required, pay the wages and instruct the supervisors for cleaning the streets and handling the waste at the collection points. It is compulsory for the contractor to be present on the site during the working hours. All the matters related to the MCH are dealt by the contractor. The contractor has to make sure that the work gets done in the stipulated time or else, penalty is imposed on him. For easy accessibility of the MCH officials with the contractors, he has to keep a cell phone with him. Depending on the type of unit the contractor has to get the work done. The work which the private contractors have been given are sweeping, putting waste into the bin, put disinfectants near to the dustbins, transport the open and concrete bin waste to the transfer stations and day mopping.

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DWCUA Groups The responsibility of these groups is like the contractors, but only with regards to sweeping the streets, putting the waste into the bins and putting disinfectants near the dustbins. Households and Other Waste Generators It is the duty of the households to get the garbage from their house to the municipal dustbins or the municipal collection point. For this, they do it themselves, or arrange someone on users-pay system. Mostly, they engage recyclers, through their own RWA or NCs to do the task. Bulk producers have to either dispose their garbage themselves or pay to the MCH for the collection. Also, it is the duty of the households to monitor the work of the contractors/officers and report the irregularities to the concerned authority. RWAs RWAs collect the wastes from the households on the users pay basis and compost it, wherever that system is in place. Currently, only 2000 households are engaged in composting the waste through their RWAs. There is a tremendous scope to increase the activities of the RWAs in Hyderabad City. Composting of waste reduces the burden of the MCH in transporting the waste to dumping site and also finding landfill sites for final disposal. RWA also spreads awareness in other areas about the segregation of waste, composting etc. But, segregation of waste at the source still remains a very weak aspect of the entire SWM system in Hyderabad. RWAs where they exist need to take up concerted campaigns for this purpose. Although a system of RWAs for the housing colonies and Neighbourhood Committees in the slums have been conceptualised and put in place, their formation on large scale is still a major concern in the entire system of SWM in Hyderabad city. Probably, it is easier to organise the waste management activities at the municipal corporation level, if the corporation so wishes, the softer side, of household level involvement, is still very difficult and hence a weak link in the whole system. Formation of RWAs and NCs, and their functioning on a sustainable basis, is a process, which needs to be given time. At the same time, there is also a question as to whether that would be feasible given the fragmented social structure of Indian cites. VGDS Volunteer VGDS volunteer, self appoints himself from the community, on a monthly payment, has to collect the waste from the households, which are under him on the schedule decided by the societies, daily. He has to dump the collected waste into the nearest municipal dustbin or collection point. While collecting the waste, he also segregates some of the recyclable waste which he later sales and earn some money. Whenever the tricycle requires maintenance, he gets it done, which is paid by the society for which he is working. Rag pickers Rag pickers work on the two tier level in MCH area, one on the roads & dustbins and the other at the landfill sites. They collect the valuable waste from the roads, dustbins and sell it to the agents. At the landfill site, there are two categories of rag pickers, one who collects plastics and the other who collects iron waste. 17

Transportation fleet The transportation fleet collects the dustbins on the regular basis or on the call from the sanitary inspectors and take it to the transfer station. There they transfer the waste into the 10 ton trucks and transport it to the landfill site. Some private contractors also transport the waste to the vermi composting units operated by the RWAs. Some MCH trucks also collect the bulk waste from the hotels, restaurants and transport it to the power generation company. Power generators Power Generation Company, presently only one, SELCO has to generate the stipulated power and transfer it to the AP Transco only. SELCO segregates the waste given by the MCH and generates power. MCH The MCH is overall in-charge of the entire SWM system of the city. It appoints the contractors for sweeping and garbage lifting. The MCH has divided the city into seven circles for this purpose and co-ordinates and manages the whole effort. It co-ordinates and monitors the activities of the contractors. For the proper pick-up of waste, the MCH supplies the tricycles to the housing societies who demand it. It provides land to the RWAs to set up the vermi composting units, wherever the RWAs are doing this activity. For the slums, it gives one-year salary to the VGDS volunteer and forms the neighbourhood committees. The MCH is fully responsible for provision of bins at collection points. It is fully responsible for picking up the collected waste and transporting the same to the TS or from TS to the dumping/ landfill site. It is responsible for transporting the waste to the power generation unit. In short, the entire responsibility of the waste management system in Hyderabad is of the MCH, for which it has brought in different partners as mentioned above.

4. Partnerships
Evidently, the MCH has entered into multiple partnerships to keep Hyderabad City clean or to create Litter-free Hyderabad. These partnerships of the MCH are discussed here. Also discussed here are other partnerships that have been forged in the process.

4.1. MCH
MCH Contractors MCH enters into a formal contract for a period of 7 months for the work of sweeping the city. The details of this contract can be seen in the annexure. MCH RWAs & NCs MCH formally creates partnership with the RWAs and NCs. MCH provides them required infrastructure such as tricycles, gloves, dress and so on, and the RWAs and NCs manage the collection and composting of the waste. RWAs managing composting plants produce the compost and sell it. The profit generated is used for infrastructure and the workers development. 18 the the the the

MCH Power Generators Power Generation Company, SELCO went into a formal contract with the MCH to produce the decided power in return of the decided waste provided by the MCH. MCH provides the land for the plant, the required waste and it also provides some tax incentives to the company.

4.2. Citizens
RWAs & NCs Volunteer The RWAs employ a volunteer who collects the waste from the households and transport it to the municipal bins. The RWAs collect user fees from the households and pays the salary to the volunteer. The maintenance of the tricycle is done by the RWAs. The RWAs monitors the tricycle puller and make sure that the households pay the user charges. Rag Pickers City This is an informal partnership between the city and the rag pickers which is unavoidable. The rag picker collects the recyclable waste from the bin which reduces the quantity of waste to be managed by the MCH. The rag pickers get some money out of it form the recycling industry.

5. Institutional Mechanism
5.1. Decisions
The policy level decisions are taken by the management committee of the MCH. It involves the Mayor, MCH commissioner, additional commissioners, and peoples representatives. All the signing powers are with the Municipal Commissioner. The Additional Commissioner sees the working of the system and the Deputy Executive Engineer manages the system. According to an official, it is good to keep all the powers with the Commissioner as he will not be affected by the pressure from the corporators like the lower officers do.

5.2. Awarding work

The award of the work to the contractors is done by the lottery system and all the powers stays with the Commissioner. The system has been explained above.

5.3. Monitoring
There are 52 sanitary wards manned by 52 Sanitary Supervisors working under 7 Medical Officers of Health and assisted by 310 Sanitary Jawans. The staff monitors and supervises the attendance and performance of workers in MCH units, private units and DWCUA units. MCH has introduced a separate enforcement system for levying littering fines and debris removal charges on the residents/ commercial establishments. 11 mobile enforcement squads are deployed in the city to constantly track the offenders littering and dumping debris on the streets and fine them. During the past 6 months, more than 5000 offenders were caught and fined, which totalled to a sum of Rs. 40 lakh. This has considerably 19

reduced the littering of the roads. The enforcement system is being strengthened with regular monitoring. There is a strict fine system for debris thrown on the roads. By law MCH can only impose fine up to Rs 50, but MCH manages to collect higher fines so that people learn not to throw debris on roads. In addition to the regular health staff, 52 officers of MCH belonging to other branches are assigned the duty of inspecting and supervising one sanitary ward each every day. This arrangement is called One Officer One Ward Programme.
Figure 11: MCH Administrative Structure

Commissioner

Add. Commissioner

Dy. Ex. Engineer

CTO

7 Medical Officers (7 Circles) 52 Sanitary Supervisors

DEE

Dy. CTO

Veh. Inspect

Veh. Inspect

Veh. Inspect

Fleet

310 Sanitary Jawans Private Contractors MCH Workers

Day Supervisor

Night Supervisor

Cleaning
Source: ASCI, Hyderabad

Transport

Cleaning

Transport

All the Officers, Sanitary Supervisors, Traffic Controllers of Transfer Stations, Vehicle Inspectors at operational depots and Sanitary Inspectors at landfill sites are provided with wireless walky-talky hand sets. Certain ward offices, vehicle operational depots, transfer 20

stations, landfill sites, circle offices and head offices are also provided with wireless Base station sets. The primary collection and the movement of vehicles are constantly monitored by regular use of these sets by the officers and staff every day. Apart from this all the officers are provided with cell phones to keep in constant touch with all other officers and be available for public.13 Also the ex-service people teams have been formed to assess the working of all the monitoring personnel. There are 10 such teams formed by the MCH. They are able to earn around Rs. 100,000 Rs per annum. Their work is to check the working of all the people involved and if there is any problem or irregularity then submit it in writing to the MCH. If these complaints increase, then the MCH puts up the enquiry and takes necessary action when required. One of the actions that the MCH can take is not return the EMD amount to the contractor. Till now, although rarely the MCH, had been forced to take such penalising action against the contractor. The residents societies are also involved in the monitoring of some part of the SWM system, as already mentioned earlier. Whenever the official wants some information, give instructions or visit the site, the contractor is required to be available on the site. The officials dont talk to the labour because of various reasons, the important one being that the labour are the employees of the contractors and not of the corporation officials and hence they may not take directions or instructions from the latter. The contractor is required to keep a cell phone; the cost of it is included by the MCH in the unit rate (Rs 500 per month).

6. Budget for SWM in MCH

Solid Waste Management is a very important activity for the MCH. This gets reflected in budgetary expenditures made by the MCH on this head. For example, the MCH has allocated Rs. 8564.86 lakhs for SWM, Rs. 7354.86 lakhs on the revenue expenditure head and Rs. 1310.00 on the capital expenditure head in the budgeted expenditures (BE) of year 2005-06 (Table 8). This means that of the BE of this year, 10.9 per cent would be utilised for SWM. On the revenue account, 17 per cent of the expenditures are to be on SWM, as compared to 11.6 per cent to be used for maintenance of roads and pavements. While 20.8 per cent of the capital budget is to be utilised for bridges and flyovers, just 9.6 per cent of the total budget is to be used on this head. The four departments mentioned in Table 6, get 50 per cent of the total budgetary allocations of the MCH, and SWM is one of the four departments that gets high budgetary allocations.
Table 8: Some Highest Departmental Expenditure (Year 05-06) in Rs. Lakh
Code 07 35 24 34 Department Budget and Accounts Roads and Pavements Solid Waste Management Bridges and Flyovers Total MCH Source: MCH (2005)14 Revenue Expenditure 14547.48 4950.00 7254.86 4.40 42508.57 Capital Expenditure 6470.00 1310.00 7540.00 36292.00 Total Expenditure 14547.48 11420.00 8564.86 7544.40 78800.57 % MCH Expenditure 18.5 14.5 10.9 9.6

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In terms of total budgetary allocation, SWM department is at third position, which indicates the importance that MCH gives to keeping the city clean. Further, the MCH has introduced a system of self-assessment for property taxes. The MCH is encouraging the citizens to pay the property tax so that 20 per cent of the taxes thus collected could be utilised for urban community development services, mainly in the slum development programme. A detailed break up of expenses of the Solid Waste Departments (Table 9) shows that more than half the amount goes towards the salaries of the department staff. Since, the lower level of conservancy staff has been reduced and the responsibilities passed on to the contractors, whose staff would be working at one-fourth to one-third the salary of the municipal conservancy staff, the wage component is just over half the department budget.
Table 9: Revenue Expenditure by MCH, Year 2005-06 (in Rs. Lakhs)
No. A Head of Account Solid Waste Management Actual Expenditure 2003-04 101.01 2348.31 466.37 102.39 1.39 0.18 219.11 720.98 3959.74 0.58 0.64 0.11 1.33 3961.07 0.62 2878.82 40.23 2.49 27.10 31.06 4.00 2984.32 5.80 7.14 12.94 6.82 0.05 6.87 6965.20 Budget Estimate 2004-05 17.05 2420.00 487.41 90.20 55.00 127.90 538.59 3736.15 1.00 0.55 1.50 3.05 3739.20 2.50 3100.00 50.00 22.50 30.00 150.00 35.00 3390.00 5.00 30.00 35.00 7.00 4.00 11.00 7175.20 Revised Estimate 2004-05 17.05 2465.00 496.41 90.08 1.50 127.92 794.26 3992.21 1.00 0.55 1.50 3.05 3995.26 2.50 2980.00 50.00 5.00 30.00 50.00 35.00 3152.50 5.00 20.00 25.00 7.00 4.00 11.00 7183.76 Budget Estimate 2005-06 18.00 2510.00 505.60 90.50 2.00 130.25 808.96 4065.31 1.00 0.55 1.50 3.05 4068.36 2.50 3000.00 50.00 5.00 30.00 50.00 15.00 3152.00 5.00 18.00 23.00 7.00 4.00 11.00 7254.86

Personnel Cost Salaries Pay of officers Pay of establishment House rent allowance CCA & other allowance Conveyance allowance Interim relief Surrender leave encashment Dearness allowance Sub total Benefits and other allowance Medical reimbursement Travel allowance Leave travel allowance Sub total Total B Operational Expenses Expenses on unclaimed dead bodies Sanitation/Conservancy expenses Maintenance of urinals and toilets Intensive/special sanitation including that for fairs & festivals Conservancy tools Hiring charges for vehicles Hiring charges for equipments/machinery Total C Programme Expenses Environmental awareness programme VGDS Total D Administrative expenses Grants to charitable medical institutions Petty contingent expenses Total Final total Source: MCH (2005)15.

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It would have been higher before this private contractors participation in the SWM. Another, between 40 per cent to 50 per cent of the departmental expenses is on the operation activities. Very little amounts are spent on directly the programmes. As per the MCH budget, in the year 2005-06, Rs. 181.55 lakhs have been proposed to be collected in the solid waste management department, Rs. 80 lakhs have been estimated to be collected in the form of penalty on the contractors (Table 10). Another Rs. 50 lakhs have been proposed to be collected as bulk garbage collection charges. There are other heads from which, at the moment, revenue collection proposed is miniscule, but, which can be increased in the future such as sale of garbage, etc.
Table 10: Revenue Receipts by the MCH, Year 2005-06 (in Rs. Lakhs)
No 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Head of Account Solid Waste Management Actual Expenditure 2003-04 19.48 28.11 0.01 57.59 0.01 0.01 105.21 Budget Estimate 2004-05 0.50 50.00 10.00 1.00 1.00 30.00 20.00 1.00 0.55 12.50 126.55 Revised Estimate 2004-05 0.50 50.00 30.00 1.00 1.00 80.00 5.00 1.00 0.55 12.50 181.55 Budget Estimate 2005-06 0.50 50.00 30.00 1.00 1.00 80.00 5.00 1.00 0.55 12.50 181.55

Registration of contractors Bulk garbage collection charges Special sanitation charges Charges for pay & use toilets Administrative charges for public nuisances Penalty on contractors Cost of tender schedules Sale of garbage Sale of rubbish Security deposit forfeited Total Source: MCH (2005)16.

In the year 1999-2001, MCH had taken up modernization of SWM project under mega city scheme costing Rs 28.00 crores, with the Rs. 7 crores coming from Government of India (GoI), another Rs. 7 crores coming from the Government of Andhra Pradesh (GAP) and the remaining Rs. 28 crores coming from institutional finance17 following the method of financing. The project envisages a state of the art technology for collections, transportation and disposal of solid waste. For collection, modern dumper placer bins were envisaged that would replace the RCC bins. For transportation, vehicles such as Dumper placers and 10 tonnes trucks were to be purchased. It also envisaged construction of modern transfer stations constructed for efficient fleet utilization. Similarly for scientific disposal of the waste, sanitary landfill sites were to be developed with proper network of roads, lighting, pumps, computerized weigh bridges, leachate drains, treatment facilities, proper fencing, environmental monitoring equipment, and so on. Mechanical equipment like front-end loaders and bulldozers were to be purchased for spreading the solid waste and capping with debris/gravel layers. Final usage of landfill site for some recreational purpose after reaching full capacity was also contemplated. The MCH has moved in this direction after taking up this project.

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Table 11: Comparative Costs

Area Covered (Sq Km) MCH Private 42.5 (25%) 127.5 (75%) Workers Engaged 2200 (52/Sq Km) 6000 (47/Sq Km) 8200 Street Sweeping cost (Rs Crore) 42.83 (1.0 Cr/Sq Km) per annum 17.26 (0.13 Cr/Sq Km) per annum 60.09 Qty. of MSW (MT/day) 1500 700 2200 Transportation Cost of MSW 11.10 (Rs 206/MT) per day 5.42 (Rs 213/MT) per day 16.22 Total Cost (Rs Crore) 53.84 (1.26/SqKm) per annum 22.68 (0.18/SqKm) per annum 76.52

Total 170 Source: MCH Hand out

Costing The transportation cost for solid waste in MCH is Rs. 105 per MT, which is quite less compared to other corporations such as Chennai (Rs. 900 per MT), Delhi (Rs. 10,000 per MT), and so on18. This is because the MCH has its own in-house fleet for transport and also uses the contractors fleet whenever necessary.

7. Observations
7.1. Positive Impacts
The MCH has given a commitment to itself to make Hyderabad a Litter-free city. For this, about 10.9 per cent of the citys budget is being spent on this head. But, at the same time, it is also true that the MCH does not take on the responsibility of providing water supply and taking care of sewerage systems, which is the responsibility of the HMWSSB, a special para-statal board that is directly funded by the state government. Hence, the SWM appears as an important activity of the city government, which infact it is. Newspapers have been covering the basic services in the city. According to the officials, there are around 12 to 14 correspondents around the MCH from various newspapers. The official says that they dont have any news that is why they are doing this. The privatisation on such a small scale has helped in increasing the self-employment by the youths in the city. The contracts are given on the basis of day and night units. Night units are main and busy roads and day units are the colony and small roads. The rates are calculated by the MCH, which is very fair as the rates used are according to the labour law, minimum wage act. Also, the profit for the contractor is given at the rate of 8.5 per cent to 10 per cent this maintains the level field among the different contractors. Independent monitoring and reporting system both from area and the landfill sites has improved the efficiency of the MCH. Monitoring and evaluation by RWAs and neighbourhood committees of slums ensure proper execution of the works by the contractors. Regular surprise inspections by independent external agencies also ensure proper attendance and improved work culture among the contract agencies.

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A stringent fines regime is put in place to deal with shortage of workers attendance, quality of sweeping, shortfall in weighing of garbage and for terminating and black listing non-performing contract agencies. All these factors have given MCH a positive image nationally and goodwill among the citizens of Hyderabad. For example, Cleanliness is next to Godliness; the main caption of MCH is being used by other municipal corporations on their websites. However, this case study raises some important concerns in this new system of SWM.

7.2. Issues
Lack of Participation of Households At this juncture, the MCH is more active in the entire system of SWM. This is how it should be. The system evolved by the MCH is working well. But, the households too need to take the responsibility of segregating the waste at the source and assisting the MCH by ensuring recycling of organic waste through vermi-composting. That would reduce the costs of transportation of the wastes and would also reduce the land required for dumping of the solid wastes, which would be in the benefit of the whole city. Lack of necessary level of participation by the households in this whole system of SWM in Hyderabad is one of the biggest concerns today. Source Segregation There is no source segregation of waste in MCH area. This increases the numbers of rag pickers and also the quantity of waste to be transported. If the waste is segregated at source and Vermi composting units were set up than lot of burden and cost can be reduced as per the SWM rules 2000. According to the officials, it is very difficult to segregate the waste at source that is why they are trying to make other parts of the system more efficient. Labour Wages While talking to a labour, it came out that the salary given to the labour by the contractor is not what the MCH mentions in the contract. This means, that there is some corruption involved here, and the labour are made to sign salary receipts, while they are getting lesser amounts than what they have signed for. Also, the working hours of a labour are more than the standards mentioned in the contract. Although the MCH officials contend that the contractor has to pay the labour through cheque, which does not happen as it is between the labour and contractor to decide how this transaction would be carried out. Further, the labour would want their wages in cash as they dont want to maintain bank accounts. Contracting Due to labour law restriction, the MCH awards the contract for only 7 months as labour working for more than 210 days has to be treated as a permanent worker. Due to this, large numbers of contractors have come up. The selection of the contractor is by lottery system, which reduces the possibility for the contractor to get the work again. Last time, for 163 units around 8000 applications were received by the MCH. 25

One work to one agency norm and the small size works has brought in a large number of contract agencies who can personally supervise and execute the works with optimum efficiency. The bidding of the contracts is done through the lottery system, which avoids the corruption in bidding, but corruption is there before and after the bidding. Women In all this system, women have benefited tremendously as most of the work is being given to them. But on the other side question arises, why women are preferred for such jobs over men? Nonetheless, through the NCs in slums and the DWCUA groups, their financial status has improved a lot. DWCUA monopoly DWCUA group creates a monopoly, as they are under the scheme of state government. The MCH can not take strict actions against them. Also, their contract unlike private contractors is for long period usually for 3 years. Most of the DWCUAs are created through the political interference as the women engaged in it are from lower sections, their vote bank. Non-functioning of Neighbourhood Committees Although NCs in slums are given tricycle and one-year salary for the tricycle puller, after one year they are not able to maintain it. Most of the households do not want to pay for the services they use. Choice of Garbage Treatment System Comparing the two waste treatment systems, vermi-composting and power generation, the former seems to be better option, but the MCH wants power generation to be initiated. This is because of the low response of the people in vermi composting. Power generation is a very quick and efficient system given that the calorific value of the waste is good. Further, in case of power generation, the MCH has to deal with only one actor, the power generating company, whereas, for successful vermi-composting at the city level, number of actors at the level of RWAs have to be partnered with, which may not be a guaranteed system of waste recycling. Rag pickers Most of the rag pickers in the city are teen age and young boys who collects the recyclable materials from the dustbins and earn their living. There are children also engaged in this activity, which is not good for the social development of the city. On the landfill site, metal pickers come in night and burn the waste, which creates dangerous gases. In these gases they pick the iron waste due to which most of the women are having problems related to chest. Landfill Site Location The problem of dumping yards is a major restriction in managing the waste. A conflict between the authorities on the land creates a problem for getting landfill sites. Presently, HADA and MCH are having the problem with the location of landfill site. Also, no body 26

wants the landfill sites near their own residences not in my back yard (NIMBY). Recently, the MCH truck driver was threatened by the locals by pistol for dumping the garbage at Jawahar Nagar site. This harassment could be from the stone quarrying contractors also whos land is adjacent to the site.

7.3. The System

Sweeping Presently, 75 per cent sweeping is contracted to private players, which MCH wants to maintain and the existing awarding and monitoring system ensures an efficient and sustainable system. The monitoring structure of the MCH is very nice especially the Ex service men teams. Collection Colonies and societies have been given the monitoring work but they have got no formal power. The major part they play is in the VGDS. For the rest of the part they can only complain to the area officers. Mostly, their complaints are listened, but not all. The collection system works efficiently in the middle and higher income groups but not in lower income groups especially in slums. This is because of the difference in the capability to pay. Separate debris collection and separate bio-medical collection system has made it easier for the management of solid waste. Transportation Transportation of the garbage has been privatized only for the open or concrete bins. The MCH fleet transports the steel dustbins only. This shows that MCH contracts out the difficult work and in future when all the bins will be mechanised, MCH will do it on its own. Concept of transfer station has reduced the cost of transportation remarkably. After the conversion of all the collection points to mechanised bins, MCH expects a better and efficient transportation system. Also, the modifications of the transfer stations will make an easy transfer of waste.
[The research has been carried out under Shastri Applied Research Project (SHARP), Urban Governance and Environmental Management; Action Oriented Policies Studies on Waste Management in Jabalpur & Raipur. We acknowledge financial support of Shastri Indo-Canadian Institute (SICI).] Notes
1 2 3

Faculty, School of Planning, CEPT University, Ahmedabad. Student, School of Planning, CEPT University, Ahmedabad. We would like to acknowledge the help of Mr Rajiv Babu, Dy. Executive Engineer, SWM, MCH; Mr. Sharma, Engineer, EPTRI; Mr. Mustafa in-charge Tankbund transfer Station; Mrs. Indira Lingam, Jubilee Hills Civic Exnora; and Mr. Sunil Reddy, Sanitation Contractor, Hyderabad, for their time for valuable discussions on the subject and providing us with relevant materials. We are thankful to them for the same. We also are grateful to MCH for all the materials provided to us such as the budget documents, and so on. Lastly, our friend Dr. C. Ramachandraiah of Centre for Economic and Social Studies (CESS) for logistic help.

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4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18

HUDA development plan 2020. As per discussion with Mr. Rajiv babu, Deputy Executive Engineer. MCH handout on solid waste management. As per discussion with Mr Rajiv Babu, Dy. Executive engineer, SWM, MCH. As per discussion with Dy Executive Engineer, SWM. MCH. As per discussion with Mrs. Indira Lingam, JHCE. As per discussion on the land fill site with the in-charge.
As per discussion with Mr. Mustafa, tank bund TS in charge.

As per discussion with Mr. Sharma, engineer, EPTRI. As per discussion with the Dy Executive Engineer, SWM. Municipal Corporation of Hyderabad (2005): Budget 2005-06, MCH, Hyderabad. Op. cited Op. cited Based on a handout from the MCH. Administrative Staff College of India (2005): MCH Solid Waste Management Action Plan, 2005, ASCI, Hyderabad.

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