Even as the civic authorities are pursuing ambitious plans to transform Khammam into a smart city, around 10,000 people living in the residential localities surrounding the municipal dump yard at Danvaigudem here continue to reel under air pollution caused by toxic fumes from the yard.
Residents of Ramannapeta colony and Danvaigudem colony adjoining the dump yard, which is spread over 40 acres, are the worst hit by the unabated air pollution.
The indiscriminate dumping of garbage, burning of the piled up trash by rag pickers, unbridled movement of pigs and rabid dogs besides the mosquito menace are taking their toll on the health of people living in the residential colonies nearby the dump yard. The unscientific disposal of garbage coupled with the greedy tactics of rag pickers who set on fire the mounds of garbage to extract metal scrap is posing serious health hazards to the residents of the locality, lamented B Ramdas, the 49th division secretary of the CPI.
The mounds of garbage is not only posing grave health risks to over 10,000 residents of Ramannapet and Danvaigudem colonies but also polluting the ground water, he deplored, pointing out that incidence of respiratory disorders is very high in these localities. Several deaths were reported due to bronchial asthma and other acute respiratory tract infections in Danvaigudem colony in the past few years, he said.
We have organised a series of agitations and complained against the unbearable stench and hazardous pollution to the authorities concerned on innumerable occasions but to no avail, rued Bhaskar, a local resident.
We will launch a protracted agitation soon if the authorities failed to concede our long pending demand for shifting the dump yard to a distant place away from the residential areas, he said.
When contacted, the in-charge municipal commissioner Venu Manohar said that watchmen will be deployed at the dump yard to prevent the entry of rag pickers into the premises of the yard. Vigil will be stepped up on the premises of the yard to check burning of garbage, he said. He said that plans were afoot to ensure scientific disposal of garbage and convert the solid waste into energy by entering into a tie-up with a garbage-based power plant soon.
