TSRTC stir triggering sanitation crisis

Charminar: It appears that the logistics related to garbage collection have eclipsed years of performance of GHMC which streamlined the process by spending huge amounts of tax payers money.

• Most GHMC drivers remain behind the wheels of TSRTC buses

• Sanitation staff also stopped collecting waste from households

Even as heaps of garbage raise concerns of health-related issues, higher-ups ponder over ways to resolve the matter, as the most of the temporary drivers remain behind the wheels of RTC buses to make some quick bucks.

According to locals in Old City, the issue of garbage in their localities is increasing by the day. They say that this kind of problem was not seen in years and blamed the continuation of RTC strike, as most of the GHMC garbage vehicle drivers are now hired for buses by paying Rs 1,500 per day.

It has been almost 2-weeks, the issue of garbage remains unresolved and complaints continue to pour in at the GHMC circle offices. In most of the areas like Charminar, Shahalibanda, Qazipura, Lal Darwaza, Bahadurpura, Hussainialam, Kishan Bagh, Chandrayangutta, Santosh Nagar, Yakutpura, Talabkatta, Begum Bazar, Mehdipatnam, Karwan, Tolichowki and nearby areas one can find roadside filled with heaps of garbage for last one fortnight.

Meeting of MLAs with ZC shows no impact

Earlier this week a meeting was also conducted at AIMIM headquarters Darussalaam with Charminar Zonal Commissioner B Srinivas Reddy, where the MLA Charminar Mumtaz Ahmed Khan directed the GHMC officials to clean the garbage and solve this issue as early as possible. On same the day, the Zonal Commissioner also conducted a meeting with other officials on same issue. But even after the meeting, none of the roads is seen being spruced up.

Speaking on the issue with The Hans India, Abdul Rahman, a social activist, said that since the beginning of RTC strike, the State government has hired private employees for Rs 1,500 per day, prompting most of the GHMC heavy vehicle drivers to join the service and affecting the logistics related to garbage collection, he added.

He said that MLA Mumtaz Khan also quoted saying that in Talabkatta division within a week 3 children had died due to dengue fever and blamed the delay of garbage collection. "Even after the meeting no response was seen", said Rahman.

MLAs and Corporators in Maha for elections

Interestingly, in Old City most of the division Corporators has left for campaigning for the MIM in neighbouring State. "In view of upcoming Maharashtra's Assembly elections, most of the public representatives represented by the City based party including MLAs and Corporators are busy, leaving the denizens in hopeless situation", he added.

In areas like Shahalibanda, Moghalpura, Hussainialam, Panjesha huge pile-ups can be witnessed. "Almost half of the road is filled with garbage. Commuters as well as pedestrians can be seen having trouble while passing through the routes," said TDP's Greater Hyderabad minority wing vice-president Mohammed Ahmed.

He also said that as the fall-out of the piling up garbage even the local level garbage collectors also stopped collecting waste from households in these areas. This has turned the roads into garbage dumping yards.

BJYM state publicity convener Ponna Venkat Ramana said that the number of cases of dengue, malaria and seasonal fever had gone up and many deaths were also reported, but GHMC and official machinery remain in denial mode. To make situations worse, the locals were facing a peculiar scenario in view of the strike.

He also said that government sanctioned Rs 1 crore for taking up anti-larval operations and curbing mosquito menace in the south zone, but nothing can be seen on the ground, as the cases related to vector borne diseases had only gone up in the recent months, added the BJYM leader.