HYDERABAD: If one visits Yetru Colony, a basti in Nawab Saheb Kunta ward in Old City, they can see heaps of sewage piled up on the road sides. As the drains get choked most of the times, the slum dwellers blamed Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) for failing to lay an efficient drainage system in the ward. Mehboob Bi, a resident, said, “The filthy water brimming the drains in our houses is not only an eyesore but the stench emanating of it is sometimes unbearable. When you inform the GHMC workers, they sometimes clean the manholes.”
“The manholes were cleaned by the workers on Saturday morning. However,the sludge has not been dumped yet. How can we ignore the filth right on the middle of the road,” pointed out Sheikh Dawood Qadri, another resident. When GHMC corporater Shireen Khatun was contacted, her father Abdul Haannan spoke on her behalf: “Funds amounting to Rs1.2 crore were sanctioned to solve the storm water drainage issue in the area. However, we have not received much support from the Waterworks department to lay an efficient drainage system. On our behalf, the repair works have been carried but have not been completed so far.”
Waterworks department general manager Khader Mohiuddin said, “Nawab Saheb Kunta is a hilly area and houses there have not been built in a systematic way. We tried to lay a proper drainage system but the work did not reach its end because of faulty pipeline connections. However, if the issue remains, it could be solved within 15 days.”