Hyderabad: Stench, leachate from landfill leave Dammaiguda locals livid

Hyderabad: Once again, the Jawahar Nagar dump yard is in limelight with the residents of Dammaiguda Municipality accusing the officials of neglecting them and no taking any measures to curtail the stench emanating from the landfill.

Locals pointed that without addressing their issues, the State government had once again showed no concern for their plight by proposing to set up a 28 MW waste-to-power plant. "The air, soil and groundwater are heavily polluted due to the landfill. Many are getting affected due to water that is contaminated with leachate from the landfill," residents bemoaned.

"As Dammaniguda is located on the outskirts of city, the area lacks proper development. Our major concern is the dump yard. When the government set the up the 20MW waste-to-power plant earlier, it said all our problems would be solved. However, nothing of sort happened, and now it came up with a plan to establish another waste-to-power plant. Instead of setting up power plants, we request the authorities to shift the dump yard to some other place," said N Venkata Subba Rao, a resident of Dammaiguda.

"The locals over here have many a time tweeted to the officials concerned regarding the dump yard issue and also about damaged roads in almost all lanes. The roads have turned so pathetic that they are unfit for travel and also many accidents were reported. It is high time the government addresses these issues and provide a permanent relief to the inhabitants of the area," said Balaji Thirukkovalluri, another resident of Dammaiguda.

"There is no respite to us from the dump yard which is already filled to its brim. With the government planning to set up another waste-to-power plant, their assurance to shift the dump yard is short-lived," rued another local of the area.