The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh / Hyderabad News : `Ground Zero' revelling in a pile of garbage

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Monday, Oct 23, 2006
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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad

`Ground Zero' revelling in a pile of garbage

Dennis Marcus Mathew

Dhoolpet back to square one

INVITING DISEASE: Heaps of garbage lie beside a roadside eatery at Pardiwada on Sunday. — PHOTO: P.V. Sivakumar

HYDERABAD: Welcome to Dhoolpet, Ground Zero of the State Government's `Operation Dengue.'

Three days into the three-year campaign against mosquitoes and garbage, Dhoolpet's Jali Hanuman area from where Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy launched the programme on Friday is back to square one.

Domestic waste

Overflowing garbage bins that have not been cleared ever since Dr. Reddy left the area welcome you. And no, the bins are not full of the vestige of Deepavali crackers but regular domestic trash and waste only. Deepavali revelry leftovers have actually been swept into small heaps at different places while the usual garbage is forgotten. Bang opposite Jali Hanuman temple is one garbage bin that has all its contents spilling over onto the road while a few metres away, right in front of the Prohibition and Excise office, another stinking pile of garbage is growing by the day.

"The last time they cleared these bins was the night before the Chief Minister came. Even before that, garbage clearance has not been regular. It is tough to sit here all day with the stench hitting you," says Rajesh Singh of Jai Bhavani teashop.

In fact, it is not just Operation Dengue's Ground Zero that looks like the civic authorities have given mosquitoes and garbage a Deepavali break in these times of dengue and chikungunya. Venture into any area within 1-km of Dhoolpet like Mangalhat, Darussalam road or Chudi Bazaar a little ahead, there are several spots where garbage is piling up. Many of these are concentrated, strangely, in front of eateries like the one on Darussalam road right in front of Vinay tiffin centre.

No drainage system

"There is no proper drainage system. As a result, waste water stagnates very fast," says Sanjay of Ajay kirana shop, near the Hanuman temple. A resident says that no fogging operations have been undertaken after the Chief Minister had symbolically sprayed the disinfectant during the launch.

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