SANGAREDDY: The farmers of Fasalwadi village, three km away from the district headquarters of Sangareddy, are facing serious problems due to the water that enters their fields being polluted.
The water is being affected by the dump yard set up by the Sangareddy municipality on the outskirts of Fasalwadi village. The farmers said that due to the recent rains, the water contaminated by the dump yard, which has rotting food items and other waste, is entering their fields. Another problem that affects them is the foul smell of the polluted water.
District Cooperative Central Bank (DCCB) Vice-Chairman Patnam Manikyam and a farmer, Venugopal Reddy, of Fasalwadi, said that the water which emits a foul smell is entering the fields, making it difficult for them to work in their farms. They said that no farm labourer wants to get into the contaminated water to remove the weeds.
“No one is coming to work even for a wage of Rs 1,000 per day. I have cultivated paddy in 15 acres of land I have taken on lease. The crop has reached a stage where weeds have to be removed,” Venugopal Reddy said.
Many farmers are suffering due to this polluted water and most of those cultivating crops are poor farmers. They are appealing to the authorities to find a solution to the problem.
The dump yard problem has been festering for over the last two decades. Even though this problem has become serious, neither the authorities nor the people’s representatives are paying any attention.
Neither T Jayaprakash Reddy, who was MLA for two terms nor Chinta Prabhakar, who has been MLA for nearly six years, is showing any interest in resolving the issue, farmers allege.
In the past, the government had released funds to set up a modern dump yard in Sangareddy like those in Medak, Siddipet and Nalgonda districts, but it never materialised.
The ad hoc approach by the officials to the problem is only making the matters worse. They make a show of clearing the garbage when there is a real problem and then take it easy after finding a temporary solution.
There is no plan for recycling the dry waste and converting the wet into manure. The practice has been to collect garbage from the town and dump it in the surrounding villages, without a care of what problem it is creating for the inhabitants.