Hyderabad: Civic woes torment Talabkatta dwellers

Hyderabad: Years of neglect by the civic authorities has made Talabkatta a shoddy slum in the city. Residents have been suffering in silence for years due to lack of civic amenities; they are forced to live with multiple unresolved issues.

Cart-track roads, narrow streets with sewage flowing in lanes, messy corners with heaps of garbage and dangling wires over electric poles are scenes that paint a gloomy picture of the area. As no sewage or stormwater lines are available, most streets are full of filth. It is difficult to find a single street without scattered trash and stink emanating from houses.

Residents of Talabkatta, Aman Nagar and Bhavani Nagar say that they need a drainage system, as per new residential requirements as the line overflows regularly, and new basic developments which the other areas in the city have.

Talabkatta comprises 90 per cent slums; it is one of the largest slums in the city. Bad internal roads, clogged sewer lines causing overflow, no quality drinking water supply, trees chopped and dumped on roads, non-functional streetlights, continuous overflow of drinking water and garbage dumped on open spaces besides roads remain major issues, along with zero sanitation.

Says Mohammed Jeelani, a resident, "for the last several years, we have been requesting authorities to upgrade sewage system, but nothing has been done. Sewage overflow has become a daily nuisance, with damage to pipelines which were laid decades back."

Moizuddin of Aman Nagar points out that "Piles of garbage is scattered on roads and streets every few meters. With no door-to-door collection, residents are seen throwing garbage on roads and internal lanes which result in heaps. Non- lifting trash is a major concern. "We residents are forced to live in unhygienic conditions. No sanitation worker collects trash nor sweeps roads. Talabkatta is surely neglected by civic authorities; they have failed to provide any basic facilities to residents."

Another resident Muneeb Ahmed says that "with repeated complaints neglected by the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation and the Hyderabad Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board authorities, we are clueless as to whom we should take our problems." or any civic work the GHMC staff dig up roads and leave them without levelling. Each internal road in the area is dug up; we do not even remember when the road was laid," he added.

Say residents, "no road has been laid for decades. The officials concerned need to look at such roads and solve the problem. All representations to authorities yield no results; officials advertently turn a blind eye to basic civic issues. We are affected with lack of civic amenities."