Hyderabad: Days after rains battered city, tree debris still strewn around

Hyderabad : Days after rains hit the city, the GHMC has still not cleared the uprooted trees and broken branches. Several tree branches and trunks that collapsed and which were chopped off by officials are found dumped on the roadsides and not cleared across the city, causing inconvenience to residents, including commuters. They are causing traffic snarls.

Scores of trees uprooted are still lying on the roadsides, causing inconvenience and blocking traffic alike. In several areas the green waste has turned into a garbage point.

“After the recent rains, GHMC workers came armed with chainsaws and chopped the fallen trees. But instead of taking the green waste away, they have left them on side of roads,” said Venkanna of Srinagar Colony. Despite officials claiming they have removed most trees, several branches are still lying on the roadsides. In Khairatabad, which anyway faces traffic logjams, the remnants of trees are causing huge problems. Similarly, several areas including Masab Tank, Vijaynagar Colony, Tolichowki, Alwal, Ameerpet, Secunderabad, Begumpet, Banjara Hills, Malakpet, Santosh Nagar and areas in the Old City, where green waste can be seen dumped on the roadsides. No official seemed to be bothered to clear the streets.

Residents said places where tree debris had been pushed have become places for dumping garbage. They pointed out that trees which were uprooted during rains on main roads were cleared; green waste in inner roads and bylanes has not been cleared.

P Manohar, resident of a colony in Ameerpet, said “many people are dumping waste on top of the green waste. For two weeks, it has been getting worse and is turning out to be very unhygienic.” We residents have called the GHMC to clean the roads. It is on the main road of the colony and is turning out to be a disturbance for commuters.”

Akhlaq Ahmed of Santosh Nagar said “there is a tree trunk lying next to the road. In my lane there is a heap of tree branches and leaves blocking the street. With this green debris on streets garbage is being dumped. There is also an increase in mosquito menace,” he added. Residents rued, “after the trees were uprooted or chopped, instead of moving trees to a corner, the GHMC staff should have lifted and taken them away somewhere else. But they did not do it that way; rather they just cleared the path for one road and left another road blocked,” said Mohammed Ahmed of the Old city.

On the other hand, GHMC, as a precautionary measure, said over 455 teams are working. It specially formed 399 monsoon emergency teams and 30 DRF teams. The DRF, monsoon and emergency teams solve many issues, including water stagnation, clearance of uprooted trees and sewage overflow. But they seem to be only lip service.