Congress, BJP leaders ask govt to take steps for the upkeep of STPs

Hyderabad: Several leaders have demanded that the State government take immediate steps to ensure all Sewage Treatment Plants (STPs) in the city are functional rather than becoming breeding grounds for mosquitoes and various vector-borne diseases.

Addressing media after inspecting the STPs at Khairatabad and Khajaguda here on Saturday, former MPs Vivek Venkataswamy and Konda Vishweshwar Reddy, MLC N Ramachandra Rao, Foundation for Futuristic Cities, president, Karuna Gopal said that the STPs are becoming breeding grounds for vector-borne diseases.

MLC Ramachandra Rao said taking into consideration the serious situation of thousands of cases of Dengue, Chikungunya and other viral and vector transmitted diseases, reaching alarming levels.

The functioning of the STPs at Khiratabad and Khajaguda shows the situation is going from bad to worse. He demanded that the government take immediate steps for proper maintenance of the STPs and ensure that they are not turned into breeding grounds for diseases.

Konda Vishweshwar Reddy said in the Khairatabad STP, 90 per cent of sewage water was not treated and even the 10 per cent flowing through the STP is hardly treated.

This is resulting in the sewage flowing into the Tank Bund. This is because most of the machinery at the STP is not working.

Karuna Gopal said the city has a combination of localised STPs in residential areas and larger STPs outside the city. When the local STPs are not properly maintained they carry the danger of stink and diseases, and breeding grounds for the vector-borne diseases.

The leaders questioned the government for not taking up fogging and anti-larval measures of mosquito control. But, spending hundreds of crores in the name of such activities.