Secunderabad: Dump the yard, locals demand

Secunderabad: Mild tension prevailed near the Mahatma Gandhi community hall at Trimulgherry on Sunday after locals blocked the main road and staged a protest the against Secunderabad Cantonment Board's (SCB) negligence for not shifting the dumpyard from the community hall. Around 200 locals along with former ward members of SCB and MP Marri Rajasekhar Reddy took part in the protest and demanded to relocate the dump yard and develop the community hall.

Protesters pointed out that along with the community hall there was also a library and a playground which has now turned into a dump yard. Locals residing near the community are unable to breath fresh air due to the stench emanating from the dump yard leading to an increase in diseases and mosquito menace. Spread over nearly 2.18 acres, the Mahatma Gandhi community hall was constructed nearly three-and-half decades ago and was earlier used for functions on a rental basis at very minimal rates. Until 2015, the community hall was used for various purposes, but in 2016, the SCB officials dismantled the hall's roof to set up a refuse-deprived fuel (RDF) unit as part of the solid waste management (SWM) project.

"Every morning we see around 40 garbage dumping vehicles near the dump yard along with sanitation workers dumping the garbage near the hall. Officials have being giving us false hopes that this dump yard will be shifted to Jawahar Nagar Dump yard. We have given many representations to the officials in order to shift the dump yard but they turned a blind eye into the issue. It is becoming difficult for us to breathe fresh air, said," said T Sharath Chandra, resident of Srinagar Colony, Trimulgherry.

"Our community hall should be returned back to us. This hall was earlier used by underprivileged people for celebrating various functions but now it is lying in defunct condition. We want our community hall back and we also have planned to take this issue to legal service authorities as a dump yard cannot be in a residential area," said B Suresh Kumar, another resident.

Ramesh, a local of Shastri Colony said, "Continuous dumping of garbage at the hall is leading to groundwater pollution and we are unable to use the water. Also the stench emanating from the dump yard is forcing us to spend sleepless nights. The SCB is least bothered about our pleas. In 2020, a plot was proposed at Military Dairy Farm road to shift this dump yard but that only seems to be on papers and no concrete measures have been taken till date." "Due to the continuous process of dumping the garbage at the hall that has lead polluting the groundwater and we are unable to use the water, also from the dump yard strong smell is been emanating due to that locals are forced to spend sleepless nights but SCB is not bothered about our pleas. In 2020, a plot was proposed at Military Dairy Farm road so that this dump yard would be shifted and but that only seems in papers, no concrete measures were taken till date," said Ramesh, a local of Shastri Colony.