Hyderabad: A stinking & shrinking stretch at many places

Hyderabad: As much as Rs 314 crore was pumped into a project to drain sewage and other filth from the Musi river in Attapur and surrounding areas and divert the same to sewerage treatment plants (STPs). However, the purpose is not achieved, and all that precious money seems wasted. The drain canal project at Attapur Musi stretch is not preventing filth from spilling directly into the water body.

Already subjected to rampant encroachments in buffer zone, sewage from nearby residential colonies and effluents from industrial units are causing putrefied smell from the water. Add to it, water channels have become breeding grounds for mosquitoes, causing many a health issue in the areas abutting the Musi stretch here. Pollutants being let into the Musi also remain a big cause of concern to citizens; all efforts of GHMC in tackling these issues are proving hopelessly ineffective. The operational efficiency of sewerage treatment plants is anything but satisfactory, which explains the stinky squalor from the Musi stream. "One only needs to visit the STPs to know for themselves how huge quantities of filth are directly getting into the course of Musi river from various points. What is the use of having such costly STPs without a productive result?" asks Mohammed Zaheeruddin, a social activist from Indranagar.

"Encroachments of buffer zone are a big concern. It is being done by a few people with the connivance of GHMC officials. How did the buffer zones become so narrow from Bapu Ghat to Pillar No. 117 without the knowledge of GHMC officials?" argues Seguri Venugopal Reddy, a local resident.

"There were several measures from tackling the mosquito menace to dealing with the encroachments in the recent years but all of them fail to yield any result as neither the areas abutting the river are rid of mosquitoes nor are the encroachments removed. Though the officials are claiming that beautification works are under process on the Musi river front, no such thing is quite visible on the field. What is visible and obvious is swarms of mosquitoes invading homes in the vicinity of the water body," complains Kadem Mallesh, a resident.

"We are fogging in areas like Hyderguda, Laxmi Nagar, New Friends Colony, Phase-2, Sirimalle Nagar, Nalanda Nagar, Bharath Nagar and Attapur Village once in every 10 days. Besides this, Anti Larvae Operations (ALO) are being taken up every Thursday to Saturday in the same areas," explained Udai Kiran, Assistant Entomologist, GHMC-Rajendranagar. He clarified that their purview is in residential areas abutting the river, and what happens on the Musi stretch falls under the jurisdiction of Musi Riverfront Development Corporation Limited. As for the encroachments in the buffer zone of the river, many calls to ACP Town planning Wing Rajendranagar, Inukonda Rani, went unanswered.