A delegation of Telangana ministers, public representatives, officials, and journalists is on a tour to Seoul, South Korea. The purported purpose of the trip is to study the riverfront project in Seoul and other initiatives, with the aim of emulating them for the Rs. 1.5 lakh crore Musi beautification project.
However, the visit has been controversial since the government announced the details of the foreign trip, which included 16 journalists. Many questioned the rationale behind including private journalists in a study tour funded by public money.
Furthermore, on the first day of the visit, the group toured a waste-to-energy (WTE) plant that generates electricity by processing 1,000 tonnes of waste. In fact, back in Hyderabad, the BRS government has already built plants capable of converting 7,500 tonnes of garbage into electricity.
The BRS government has envisioned processing the municipal waste generated daily within the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) limits. Approximately 7,500 tonnes of waste is collected each day within these limits, and this is utilized to produce electricity.
Currently, a 24 MW WTE plant is operational at Jawahar Nagar, and another plant at Dundigal is almost ready. The Dundigal plant will process around 800 tonnes of Refuse Derived Fuel (RDF) per day to generate 14.5 MW of power.
Additionally, construction is underway for WTE plants at Pyaranagar in Medak district (15 MW), Yacharam (12 MW), and Bibinagar (11 MW). Plans are also in place to upgrade the capacity of the Jawahar Nagar plant to 48 MW.
Once all of these are commissioned, Hyderabad will achieve its target of generating 101 MW of energy from municipal solid waste.
These plants will have sufficient capacity to recycle the waste produced in Hyderabad and its corresponding Urban Local Bodies for the next three decades. Furthermore, former CM KCR and former minister KTR have planned to build WTE plants in Warangal and Karimnagar.
The establishment of these plants helps alleviate the burden on landfills, reduces unpleasant odors in nearby areas, and mitigates environmental pollution affecting the ground, soil, and water.
Ironically, even Karnataka’s Deputy CM and senior Congress leader, DK Shiva Kumar, visited the Jawahar Nagar WTE plant last year and praised Hyderabad’s comprehensive garbage management system.
Now, many are questioning the purpose of visiting a WTE plant in Korea when Telangana already has state-of-the-art facilities. The motive behind the tour is under public scrutiny.