Mosquitoes thrive on desilted nala waste
Civic body ignores hygiene, focuses only on desilting
Unscientific and untimely desilting of nalas seems to be doing more harm than good for the residents of the state capital. The Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) authorities are allegedly ignoring hygiene and focusing only on nala desilting which has to be ideally taken up in summer. Lack of coordination among officials has been keeping the city dirtier at several locations, making them breeding grounds for mosquitoes.
The civic body has deployed most of its entomology staff for the vaccination drive and the lower rung officials working in sanitation are said to be removing garbage bins from households without replacing them.
To add to the woes, political leaders including city ministers, mayor, her deputy and corporators have been focussing on the annual desilting programme, which was supposed to be taken up in summer and winter. In monsoon, the removed silt re-enters the city nalas, and the contract agency does not remove the silt until it is dried.
Due to early rains, the removed mounts of silt are still not dry, making it difficult for the contractors to transport it to dump yards. On the other hand, the higher authorities, as per the directions of their political bosses, have been pressuring the agencies to desilt the nala on a regular basis even during the monsoon.
Despite the entomology wing claiming that it was constantly carrying out anti-larva operations in all zones, residents of several colonies, especially in the Old City, are complaining regularly about mosquito menace. Most affected areas are Doodhbowli, Charmahal, Deccan Colony, Kokatatti, Hussaini Alam, Moosabowli and Mir Chowk.
Similar complaints are pouring in from areas abutting the Musi like Shastripuram Colony, Hassan Nagar, Suleman Nagar, Attapur, Bharath Nagar and Bapu Ghat. Residents said despite registering multiple complaints, the corporation authorities had not been resolving the issue.
“Mosquito menace has not only been leaving us sleepless during nights, but also haunts us during daytime. Several complaints were filed on the GHMC’s official website and MyGHMC application. Our grievances were even brought to the notice of the circle level entomology wing but we did not receive any response from them,” said Mr Syed Anser, a resident of Shastripuram Colony.
“We have mosquito problem 365 days a year. We regularly complain about this to the GHMC officials, but there are no measures to save us from this,” said Mr D. Anand, a resident of Tolichowki.
K. Sharath, a government employee, said, “When it rains, the garbage bins in the vicinity become breeding sites for mosquitoes. Even after several complaints, there had been no response from the GHMC officials.”
Admitting that there is mosquito menace in all 30 circles in the GHMC limits, an entomology wing official said, “Since it is the season of insects, not only Hyderabad, the entire country is suffering from this problem.” “We have been focusing only on this and our teams have constantly been working to curb mosquitoes. We are trying to create awareness among the citizens. We have conducted special drives in various colonies apart from implementing a dry day on Sunday every week,” the official said. He said the civic body would further intensify steps to prevent mosquito menace through regular fogging in the affected areas.