Medaram refuse poses threat

Medaram: Utter unhygienic conditions prevailed in Medaram in Warangal district with garbage piling up everywhere posing the threat of outbreak of epidemics. Over one crore devotees from all over the country had participated in the Sammakka-Saralamma festival, a popular and biennial event.

The entire area is reeking with foul smell forcing nearly half of the village to vacate their homes. However, some of the people are still remaining in the village with a prayer on their lips. The festival, first in the new state of Telangana, was held on a grand scale from February 17 to 20 with participation of over one crore.

The government conducted the festival treating it as a matter of prestige and implemented development works at a cost of Rs 170 crore. Officials ensured no inconvenience was caused to people during the event, but threw their hands helplessly to improve sanitation post festival scenario.

According to a resident Paska Mallamma, sanitation works were implemented for a week after the festival. Exposed to foul smell and unsanitary conditions, a sanitation worker died and scores were indisposed. Epidemics are in their virulent form in the village because of the filth discarded everywhere in the village. Unhygienic conditions were not just limited to Medaram but also extended to adjoining Urattam, Reddygudem and Kothuru villages.

The state government had allocated Rs 1.24 crore to district panchayat raj department to improve the sanitation. In all, 2100 sanitation workers from Warangal and Rajahmundry were deployed during the festival. Their task was to improve the sanitation in the village after the festival had concluded. But they did not pay full attention to it and left the garbage as it is even 10 days after the event had concluded.

One can come across discarded food plates, unremoved tents, discarded liquor bottles and toilets at their worst condition all over the village emitting foul smell. The Panchayat Raj department built temporary toilets at a cost of Rs 12.15 lakh and left them as they are even one month after the festival had concluded.

The Government used 100 acres in and around Medaram for the festival. The tribals cultivate their lands in the fields. But devotees discarding the liquor bottles became a huge menace to the farmers. The village had hogged the limelight during the festival, but its residents are spending sleepless nights became of the bad odour. The villagers are panicked as officials discarded completing the task.

A resident of Reddygudem, Rama, notes with concern that officials have bedecked the village for the festival, but the garbage was left unattended once the event had concluded. Besides the foul smell, house flies during the day time and mosquitoes at night have been posing problems to residents of the village. We do not know whom to complain, she said adding diseases are on the verge of outbreak. She appeals to authorities to improve sanitation in the village understanding the villagers’ predicament.

A woman farmer, Kamalamma, of one of the affected villages says that the officials built toilets for the festival and chose to ignore them once the festival had concluded. Unlike the earlier, they did not dispose of the waste. She says that she does not know whether to feel proud to have hosted such a big event or to dread at the worst scenario of the prevailing sanitation in the villages. “Nobody is able to give satisfactory replies to our queries,” she said seeking justice to them.

The farmers have lost one crop because of Medaram festival. They are apprehensive to venture into the fields as broken liquor bottles are posing a threat to them. They allege that the authorities have forcibly taken their land for the festival promising compensation. Now, they have changed their tack stating that it was government land. The farmers are questioning why the authorities have turned a blind eye to the village.

RDO of Mulugu Mahender clarified that at the time of the festival 2100 sanitation workers were deployed for the festival to remove the garbage. The garbage has been cleared. If there are any problems in the village, they would be rectified taking them to the notice of higher authorities.

About 100 acres of government land has been used for the festival. He wondered that it is not just to demand compensation for using the government land. For long, the government has ignored raising crops in government lands by the farmers. He outright rejected scope for paying compensation to farmers as the land used to host the festival belonged to the Government.