ACCUMULATED FILTH: The stagnant nala at Jubilee Hills is a virtual breeding ground for mosquitoes. -- Photo: G. Krishnaswamy

HYDERABAD : A filth-filled and stagnant nala is the last thing one would expect to see on the sidelines of the good work done by Civic Exnora to make Jubilee Hills a garbage-free area.

While door-to-door garbage collected from households is brought to Jubilee Hills Civic Exnora (JHCE) society site on Road No.54 to be taken away to the municipal corporation's garbage dump yard, it is the unsightly nala that nullifies the good work by becoming a breeding ground for mosquitoes.

The municipal corporation, with whom the Civic Exnora has an MoU, allocated the open park space to it for dumping and segregation of garbage collected by boys from about 2,000 households. It is from here that MCH trucks lift the garbage daily. While the site is maintained well by the JHCE, it is the nala situated along the MCH site area that raises serious health concern.

Despite representations to authorities, the nala has not been cleaned or desilted for several months. With neither MCH nor the Metro Water Works and Sewerage Board taking up the responsibility, the nala continues to be a source of worry for the residents.

Officials' apathy

"Officials should act at least now with dreaded dengue and chikungunya rampant in the city. But things are as stagnant as the nala," says Indira Lingam of Jubilee Hills Civic Exnora.

The nala in a way obstructed the vermi-composting activity of JHCE, an eco-friendly way to turn biodegradable garbage into manure. "Some residents attributed the stench emanating from the area to vermi-composting at the JHCE site. Though we suspended vermi-composting for the last six months, the stench still hangs thick in the air making it evident that the nala is the culprit," she says.

"With silt and domestic sewage choking the nala, we get it cleaned by our boys sometimes but it is not enough," says Ms. Indira who initiated Civic Exnora concept along with Ratna Reddy, Aruna and Champaka Rao to keep surroundings clean and hygienic way back in 1998.

By employing street children as garbage collectors, the JHCE team not only provided livelihood to them but also made a success of vermi-composting with many takers for the manure. " We want regular clean up of nala to check mosquito menace so that we can resume vermi-composting," Ms. Indira adds.

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