Sai Nagar chokes as garbage burnt

Alwal: Illegal dumping has been an ongoing issue here in Sai Nagar Colony at Lothukunta near Laxmikala Temple in Alwal for the past four years. The Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) sanitation workers are dumping the entire area garbage in the open place and burning it causing health issues for the residents. Though there have been many complaints to authorities concerned, no one has turned to resolve the issue. K Ganesh Kumar, a resident of Sai Nagar Colony, said, “GHMC sanitation workers are collecting the garbage every day for the past three months and then burning the piled-up garbage, leaving foul smell and huge smoke affecting the health of nearby residents and creating air pollution in the area. This issue has become unbearable now.

I have sent my 15-month-old child to his grandparents’ house. To stop the smoke entering the house, I have installed green mats over the balconies and windows facing the garbage point but still it didn’t work out. I and my wife have been suffering from infections because of the smoke. The garbage also includes discarded sofa and tyres and other wastage and firing it up causing severe pollution, Ganesh added. To add to it, passersby urinating near the garbage has become a common scene here. During night time people often gather and indulge in illegal activities like liquor consumption, smoking and others. Moreover, when residents of Sai Nagar Colony complained to the Assistant Medical Officer of Health (AMOH), GHMC, he denied saying that GHMC workers were not permitted to clear garbage from a private property.