Hyderabad: Poor sanitation in city breeds diseases

Hyderabad: The major reason for the spread of vector-borne and water-borne diseases is poor sanitation in residential areas. Because of inadequate sanitation, the majority of viral fever cases have been reported in the city. The state of the city's conditions has gotten alarmingly bad, with waste piles building up on streets.

According to residents, they have been requesting the civic body to lift garbage, initiate fogging, and conduct sanitation drives, but all fell into deaf ears. There was no lifting of regular garbage in many areas across the city. Moreover, the condition of the Old City has been worsening due to unhygienic conditions.

Various localities, including Khairatabad, Nampally, Malakpet, Santoshnagar, and the posh colonies of Jubilee Hills, Banjara Hills, Somajiguda, Filmnagar, and Shaikpet, Tolichowki, Kukatpally, KPHB, Begumpet, Ameerpet, Secunderabad, and the entire Old City, piles of garbage can be seen unattended by sanitation teams.

Jaishankar of Begumpet said, “People cannot walk or drive on roads because of the foul smell; the entire road turns filthy. Also, many motorists skid when it rains.”

According to activists, the unattended garbage spread on roads produces a foul smell, which makes it difficult for citizens who daily face such inconvenience. “Though the GHMC takes measures in the monsoon to keep proper sanitation and end mosquito breeding, the mosquito menace continues to trouble the citizens due to several factors. The major challenges faced by the civic body are the management of garbage and drainage systems, which turn into breeding grounds for mosquitoes when neglected for days,” said Mohammed Ahmed, TDP Minority Cell vice president. Moreover, he said the GHMC officials are misleading the netizens who raise issues online and post their grievances on various social media platforms.

Despite having a mechanism to resolve issues on digital platforms, like the GHMC App, an online grievance redressal system, X, and a helpline, it has been observed that after the issues were raised by the citizens, they remain unattended but are posted as cleared. They are misleading the citizens as well as their higher-ups, including ministers, Mayor and GHMC Commissioner.

He said that this shows that the GHMC officers are fooling the citizens and their lackadaisical attitude. After the issues were raised, the GHMC officers claim they were resolved. But it clearly shows that the officers are not performing their duties and misleading their higher-ups. Meanwhile, the DMHOs, in coordination with the GHMC officials, on Thursday undertook a special drive to conduct anti-larvae operations to prevent chikungunya cases.