The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh / Hyderabad News : Dirt and debris keep piling on 24/7

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Oct 30, 2006
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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad

Dirt and debris keep piling on 24/7

Dennis Marcus Mathew

`Operation Dengue' remains on paper only?

A PEEK AT STINK HEAP: A dump lies uncleared in Secunderabad Cantonment area. — PHOTOS: K. RAMESH BABU

HYDERABAD: An eerie silence and darkness prevails in Sai Indraprasth Apartment, near the Regional Passport Office, in Kummarguda. All windows, doors and ventilations of the flats in this residential complex remain closed even in the day. Children are not allowed to play outside their homes and whoever ventures out never does go out without a kerchief over his or her nostrils.

"Operation Dengue? Forget the 24-hour attack by mosquitoes, we cannot even breathe properly because of the stink from the garbage pile outside our apartment," says G. Mahita, one of the residents.

For the heck of it

Others point to two garbage containers kept adjacent to the complex. Both, they say, were cleared on Saturday morning.

The problem was that the clearance was a symbolic gesture. While small piles of trash lay strewn around, both bins were still at least half full.

RECIPE FOR DISASTER: Rain fills lanes with puddles - an ideal breeding ground for mosquitoes.

"The garbage dumped includes waste from nearby hospitals and food joints. There is a Government upper primary school close to the dump while several children are brought to the children's clinic. Mosquitoes and foul smell are the last things we want," says M. Umanagendramani, another resident.

"We have represented the matter to MCH Additional Commissioner Anuradha, Medical Officer M. Jayaram. We have even sent a letter to Minister Koneru Ranga Rao. No action has been taken so far," says R.V.S. Raghava Rao, a resident.

It's worse

While Kummarguda with various such spots indicates the progress of `Operation Dengue' under the Municipal Corporation, another spot on Entrenchment Road towards AOC Centre shows that the momentum of Secunderabad Cantonment's own version of Operation Dengue is worse.

A huge pile of garbage lies adjacent to Hanuman two-wheeler service centre and Jai Jagadamba general store. Everything — beginning from domestic garbage to decaying animal carcass — comprises this heap.

Self-work is better!

"This is a miniature version. In fact, this pile has not been cleared for more than two months and we had to clear some of it so that customers could enter our shop," says Puran Mal of the kirana store.

"There are two bins of the Cantonment on the opposite side of the road. They clear it quite regularly, but not this pile, which has more garbage than five bins put together. They came a few times but asked us for money. When we refused, they simply left," says a worker of the service centre.

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