Swachh Bharat takes a beating in Palamuru

Mahbubnagar: The much-hyped Swachh Bharat Abhiyaan aimed at creating a healthy and hygienic environment in cities, towns and villages, seems to have taken a beating in Mahbubnagar district, as the authorities have failed to identify a dedicated dump yard for dumping the garbage in all major municipalities in the district. 

At present, the district has two municipalities and one Nagara Panchayat; of them, except Mahbubnagar municipality, the remaining Narayanpet, the oldest municipality and the newly-formed Jadcherla Nagara Panchayat are not having a dedicated dumping yard till date. Due to lack of a dumping yard, the garbage collected from the wards, gram panchayats and other households is being dumped wherever there is available open space on the outskirts of the towns. Because of the open dumping, the stink emanating is causing lot of inconvenience to people passing by on the roads and also becoming breeding grounds for mosquitoes and other disease-causing vectors. 

For instance, in Jadcherla, the municipal workers dump the garbage in the lower banks of Nallecheru Lake located in the city centre. The stink emanating from the site is causing inconvenience to slum dwellers on the banks of the lake. “Not just municipal waste, all the garbage from the vegetable market yard, the remains of fish scrub and other biological wastes are being dumped here in the Nallacheru. The lake has been encroached and the stretch of its actual storage has also been reduced due to continuous dumping,” says Yadaiah, a resident of Badepally. 

According to estimates, it is said that in all the three local bodies, Badepally and Narayanpet, every day on an average, 120 metric tonnes of garbage is being generated. While the staff of Mahbubnagar municipality are dumping the garbage at their dumping yard, the authorities of other two Nagara panchayats are dumping the garbage in the open areas located on the outskirts of their towns.  

Narayanpet Municipality, though it is one of the oldest municipality in the district, lacks a dedicated dumping yard till date. Every day, more than 32 metric tonnes of garbage is generated from Narayanpet’s 9,000 households and commercial properties. Even though the government had sanctioned Rs 98 lakh for the construction of the dumping yard long back, because of official apathy, the proposed dumping yard is yet to be finalised.  

“We have already identified a piece of vacant land for the dumping yard in Narayanpet at Ellampally village. However, it needs to have a proper boundary wall constructed, for which tenders are called and even granted the works for Rs 10 lakh to a contractor. But till date, the contractor has not taken up the works,” said an official on anonymity from Narayanpet municipality. 

Even in Badepally, which falls under Jadcherla constituency, represented by Health Minister Dr C Laxma Reddy, there is no dumping yard. Though the Municipal Commissioner Sunitha says they had identified an open space near Kistampally village, all the garbage is being dumped only at the city centre, as there is no approach road for the municipal workers to reach the site for dumping the garbage. 

“Recently, the government has sanctioned Rs 10 lakh to construct a road leading to dump yard at Kistampally and very soon we will see that all the garbage is shifted to that site and ensure the city is kept clean and green,” said the Municipal Commissioner. 

The people are of the opinion that even though the State and Central governments are spending hundreds of crores on promoting Swachh Bharat and Swachh Telangana, the ground reality is totally different and nothing has changed, thanks to the apathy of municipal officials.