The Hindu : Their way to learning is through garbage dumps?

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Jul 17, 2003

Southern States

Southern States - Andhra Pradesh-Hyderabad

Their way to learning is through garbage dumps?

By T. Lalith Singh

HYDERABAD July 16. Located alongside the entrance of Cosmic School at Moghalpura is a garbage bin. So is another overflowing one next to the gate of S.D.M. School at Komatwadi. Refuse from nearby localities gets piled all the day even as children walk in and out of the schools.

``Couldn't the Municipal Corporation of Hyderabad (MCH) get another place to locate the refuse bin ? Who will take responsibility if students catch diseases,'' says Imtiyaz Ali, a resident of Komatwadi.

At Amannagar-B, women bring out bottles of muddy water. "What sin have we committed that such water is supplied to us for drinking,'' says an angry Razia Bee.

Close-by is a `nala'. As part of pre-monsoon works, workers had desilted it, dumped all the silt alongside and forgot to remove it. Days later, the mound swarm with mosquitoes in the middle of a lane in Amannagar. "Two members in my family are running fever. I don't know if their ailment is due to the mosquitoes,'' fears Sheikh Mohammad.

Further down at Kaman Sheikh Faiz, a team of labourers had dug a trench for cables along the road and on Wednesday afternoon, there was none in sight to complete the work. More than 24 hours after rains, the circular road at Bada Bazar remain muddy. "Should we go and complain each time there is a rain '' asks Mohd.Khaja Mohiuddin, a resident of Edi Bazar.

Things have remained the way they were some decades back in the once walled City. The brick and mortar walls might have gone but indifference and apathy ring these parts. Internal lanes continue to be narrow and dingy and the condition of roads turns worse with each spell of rain. Garbage is another problem. Civic authorities maintain they were clearing bins regularly but residents demand it be done more frequently. "At least when there is viral outbreaks across the State,'' says one.

The Assistant Commissioner (South Zone), K.Uma Shanker, says there was no shortage of either manpower or vehicles to maintain cleanliness in the Old City. "I can say that we are covering more than 90 per cent of the Old City as far as sanitation drive is concerned,'' he says.

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Their way to learning is through garbage dumps?