Residents of Chanchalguda, Akbar Bagh and Santoshnagar are complaining of GHMC sweepers polluting their localities by raising dust and burning garbage each morning.
Health-conscious residents of Chanchalguda, Akbar Bagh and Santoshnagar, especially the morning walkers, have been facing a peculiar problem since the past several months.
These residents claim that they are being forced to shy away from their morning walks, and in fact ensure that that they remain indoors with all their doors and windows closed, due to the dust and smoke which envelops their localities each morning.
The reason behind the smoke and dust is the sweepers of the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation burning the garbage after sweeping the area.
If the residents do venture out in the early morning hours, they suffer from running noses, burning eyes and suffocation due to the thick smoke combined with dust which hovers in the areas.
One of the residents, S Nayeemullah, told INN, "The GHMC sweepers descend upon the locality in the early morning hours and get busy sweeping. They then set fire to the garbage. This thick smoke does not allow the dust to settle down, leaving us choked. The situation is such that when we step out of our houses in the early hours, our clean clothes are visibly dirty."
Nayeemullah continued, "The real problems faced by us are the health issues. I cannot understand why the GHMC workers do not just shift the garbage away like in other areas."
Commuters using the road, be it schoolchildren, people bound for offices or anyone passing through, are forced to cover their mouths and try to keep the dust out.
Nemath, a resident of Santoshnagar, says that objections were raised with the sweepers, their supervisors and the other concerned officials, but to no avail. The sweepers continue to burn the garbage on the sides of the roads, and this continues to envelop the areas in a thick pall of smoke.
"Earlier they used to shift the garbage, but now they burn it here itself, and we cannot understand the reason behind that. Our pleas are left unheeded, and they continue to spoil our health, not to mention our mood each morning," Nemath further added.
"We are faced with a peculiar situation - we either suffocate because of the smoke and the dust if we open our windows, or we suffocate because of the stale air in our homes if we keep the windows shut," he lamented. (INN)