Hyderabad City sitting on a purring powder keg

Hyderabad: Cases of garbage burning escalated after removal of trash cans under the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) limits. As many as five to six cases are being reported in the city every day following which the Telangana State Disaster Response and Fire Services Department is busy controlling the fire.

Residents and activists alleged that instead of picking up the garbage, the sanitation workers are burning it, resulting in immense pollution.

Raging over the piled-up garbage on roads and garbage points, Mohammed Abdul Rahman, an activist from Old City said, "This is negligence on the part of the civic body that garbage piles are everywhere. Instead of transforming the city into 'Saaf Hyderabad' and 'Swacchh Hyderabad', our beloved City is turning into a heap of garbage."

With the ensuing summer the burning garbage instills fears of major fire accidents. The residents urged the sanitation wing of GHMC to control the burning of garbage and instead clear the garbage from time to time from garbage points.

In absence of the garbage bins the citizens are seen throwing it on roads, failing to collect it the garbage sanitation works are torching it, alleged N Narasimha, an activist.

Further, the activists pointed out that the burning of garbage would be catastrophic to the atmosphere, as black smoke emanating from the burning could prove health hazard and cause chronic ailments like cancer.

According to the Telangana State Pollution Control Board, garbage burning invites a penalty of fine up to Rs 25,000. Activists urged the strict implementation of the penalty particularly now when GHMC staff is indulged.

Mohammed Mustafa, Fire Officer at Gowliguda, informed that for almost a week, the garbage burning incidents increased. "In last few days, the fire tender reached several spots to control the fire including Chandulal Baradari Colony in Bahadurpura, CBS road in Gowliguda, Chaderghat Bridge, Yakutpura, Phool Bagh in Chandrayangutta, Vattepally, Falaknuma, Malakpet, Seetarambagh and Punjagutta." he said.

In the wee hours on Monday, a complaint of fire being caught in garbage near HMWS&SB (Hyderabad Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board) office beside the Central Bus Station (CBS) in Gowliguda was made by the Board's staff. Fire tender rushed to the spot and controlled it.

Speaking to The Hans India, one of the officials of HMWS&SB claimed to have alerted the Fire Services. "The sanitation worker lit the fire in garbage which later spread and turned massive. We alerted the fire department before something serious occurred," said an HMWS&SB officer.