Hyderabad: Officials says lack of civic sense a big letdown

Hyderabad: Even as the Greater Hyderabad is the only city in the country to have received National Swachhata Excellence Award under cities with a population over 10 lakh category and was declared open defecation free double plus under Swachhata Mission for the year 2019, some denizens still behave irresponsibly tarnishing the city's image. As part of GHMC's beautification project, while two artists were painting beautiful messages and landscapes on a compound wall, about 200 metres away an irresponsible citizen indulged in open urination on the same compound wall at SR Nagar on Wednesday. This unlawful act not only posed a threat to jeopardise the reputation of the award-winning city, the scene of defacing the beautiful compound wall proved to be an irritant to passers-by.

The commuters vented their ire by asking the GHMC to act strict and penalise persons indulging in acts lacking civic sense and damaging the beauty of the city. "Penalising heavily for littering and open defecation could prove to be the only deterrent for this perennial problem. It is a shameless act where the culprit has not shown any regards to the beautification works being carried nearby. Also, the commuters pointed out that there was a public toilet nearby, but still the person chose to indulge in unlawful act," said P Sai Krishna, Swiggy, delivery executive.

"We spend around two to three weeks to plan, decide and execute any beautification project in the city. However, all our efforts, time and public money go in vain when people act irresponsibly. It is every citizen's responsibility to make city beautiful, neat and tidy. We are doing our part, we are cleaning the roads, painting the walls and try to maintain the same every day but to make the city clean the citizens also must support the government and GHMC," said A Ramesh, Deputy Commissioner, GHMC.

"I kindly request citizens to use public toilets and avoid disposing of waste in the open. There are bins all over the city; so, we urge them to use them instead," he added.