After 18 years, Haseena gets ‘segregation’ award

Haseena Begum, a 49year-old resident of Santosh Nagar Circle in Talab Katta, has been segregating waste much before the Municipal Corporation began encouraging it. She is finally reaping the benefits of 18 years of garbage segregation.

So far, 25,000 people have participated in the GHMC’s Swachh Dhooth scheme. Ms Haseena Begum has been picked the winner for the month of July, and she has been awarded Rs 1 lakh.

Talab Katta, which is located close to the Charminar, falls within the south zone of the city. It is infamous for its subpar infrastructure and poor sanitation. It is not uncommon to see garbage overflowing out of bins and trash which has not been picked up. In such an atmosphere, Ms Begum has been doing her part for the past 18 years.

“I have been segregating waste since much before the twin bins, which I am yet to get, were distributed. My kitchen waste and my plastic waste go into different buckets. However, despite segregation at the source, the waste gets mixed during transportation. It is only in recent times that the GHMC has introduced separate waste autos for dry and wet waste, and encouraged residents to segregate waste by providing twin bins,” said Ms Begum.

Ms Begum’s name was entered by her son, via the GHMC Swachh Dhooth app. The scheme aims to provide incentives to households which implement good sanitation practices by segregating their wastes.