Jawaharnagar dwellers thumb their nose at dump yard delay

Hyderabad: Despite plans to establish dumping yards around the city, they appear to remain only on paper. Once again, the Jawaharnagar dump yard has come into the spotlight, as residents of the surrounding localities have alleged that for the past five days, they have been enduring sleepless nights due to the constant foul smell emanating around the clock.

According to sources, in January of this year, the State government planned to establish four additional dump yards across the city and its outskirts, with locations such as Pyarnagar, Khanapur, Dundigal, and Pashamylaram in Medak district being shortlisted. However, they have not taken any further action since then. Currently, the entire city relies on the Jawaharnagar dump yard, which receives 8,000 tonnes of garbage daily. This has led to significant air, soil, and groundwater pollution in the surrounding areas.

Locals allege that despite repeatedly submitting representations and staging several protests to the concerned officials, their pleas have been ignored. The situation is worsening by the day; while the foul smell used to occur once or twice a week, it has now persisted 24/7 for the past five days. The primary reason could be that the workers have stopped spraying the chemicals that help control the odour and kill bacteria. As a result, many water-borne diseases have been reported in the area.

Sandeep, a local, said, “For many years, we have endured hardships because of the dump yard. The situation was gradually improving, but over the past five days, a strong, foul smell has been emanating from the dump yard. We can hardly breathe and are forced to keep our doors and windows closed. It seems that the officials have stopped spraying the chemicals, and as a result, we locals are suffering.”

Ramu, another local, said, “The State government has only been giving us false hopes and has yet to address the issue of relocating the dump yard. We are enduring nightmarish conditions every day. It is high time the concerned officials come up with a permanent solution to provide relief to the

residents.”