Waste segregation in Hubli-Dharwad remains on paper

HUBLI: The Hubli-Dharwad Municipal Corporation's plan to segregate solid waste in the twin cities has gone awry. Reasons: there is no proper equipment to carry the segregated waste; and the manpower required to supervise the work is lacking.
Initially, the HDMC had introduced door-to-door collection of garbage and distributed buckets among the poor in some wards to segregate dry and wet waste at home. Besides, HDMC civic workers and contract employees were given training.
An HDMC officer said lack of equipment, manpower and vehicles has resulted in the delay in launching the project. As of now, civic workers and contractors lift 400 tonnes of unsegregated garbage and transport it by tractor to a yard on Karwar road in Hubli and Hosayellapur yard in Dharwad.
Another problem is a shortage of health inspectors in the twin cities to supervise segregation at the ground level. The twin cities have 15 inspectors nearing retirement as against the requirement of 60. "These 15 inspectors take care of 67 wards of the twin cities. This number is just not enough," a source said.