The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh / Hyderabad News : Tragedy waiting to happen

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Wednesday, May 06, 2009
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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad

Tragedy waiting to happen

Staff Reporter

Hyderabad: Overflowing drains, open manholes, mounds of slush – Bholakpur has all the factors necessary to trigger an epidemic. The death of five persons and falling sick of nearly 200 is nothing strange considering the pathetic civic conditions in the area.

Irate residents placed a bottle filled with dirty water on a manhole at the cross roads near the Badi Masjid on Tuesday, indicating the sorry state of affairs. Water supply has always been a problem here and with the summer peaking, the problem is only aggravated. “We don’t get regular water. And when it comes it is sewage water for the first half an hour”, says Azharuddin of Bangladesh Kapda market.

Supply of polluted water is a common complaint in Bholakpur which is home to large number of tanneries and scrap shops.

A working class locality, the narrow lanes of this basti emit an awful odour. Animal skins can be seen being dried up openly and lying in heaps.

During the last few days, residents say, the water dripping through taps is coloured and smelly. What is shocking is the indifferent attitude of the Water Board officials who didn’t bother to attend to the complaints much less arrange water supply through tankers. “Many of us fetch water from the public tap near Gandhi Hospital,” says Moizuddin.

Cases of vomiting and diarrhoea, especially among children, have been on the rise. Almost from every house one or two children are affected. “Nearly 80 per cent of the cases coming to me are those affected with water infection”, says Ch. Shekhar Reddy of Mitra Hospital.

Eight-year-old Feroz, who died on Monday, was first brought to this hospital. “His eyes were sunken and BP not recordable. I immediately referred him to the Gandhi Hospital,” Dr. Reddy said.

Residents of Gulshan Nagar and surrounding bastis in Musheerabad continue to suffer from pollution caused by raw skin and hide units in the area.

While the number of raw skin units have come down after crackdown by the GHMC, quite a few continue to flourish, plying their trade surreptitiously. Residents here have been suffering from a variety of respiratory infections.

Earlier, the APPCB had traced the main source of water contamination in the area to the tanning units.

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