Hyderabad: Trash stench makes life hell in colonies

Hyderabad: A pungent smell is continuing to assail residents of Malkajgiri, Kapra, ECIL, Sainikpuri, Yapral, Dammaiguda and a few surrounding areas every day for the last week. The residents had earlier blamed it no the rain.  But the last two days have remained dry, yet the stench persists and this has left the residents perplexed about its source.

The air smells like a combination of rotting carcasses, burning rubber and ammonia and stays for hours. Depending on the direction of the wind, it drifts in different directions.

Residents are convinced that the stench has only two possible sources of origin — the drying Kapra lake or the massive dump yard at Jawaharnagar, which hosts the city’s refuse. Officials suggested that the smell could be the rotting lakebed of the Kapra lake which has been de-watered for Mission Kakatiya.

“There is some really, really bad smell that is in the air in Sainikpuri. Earlier, this used to be a once-in-a-while occurrence but now the stench is persistent for days on end. We presume it is because of the garbage dump in Jawaharnagar. The leachate is causing the stench. There is a lot of leachate in the dump which could be oozing out along with the rainwater,” said Ms Meena R., a resident of Third Avenue in Sainikpuri,

“The dump yard has reached its limit; it cannot hold anymore garbage. That is why some garbage is left out in the open. Since we do not have any garbage dump close to our colony, the smell couldn’t have originated from here, We don’t know where the smell is coming from,” said Mr Rama Krishna, a resident of Saikrishnanagar Colony.

Some other residents also suggest that it could be the dumping of puja material into the subsidiary pond built near Kapra lake.

Following the onslaught, residents are now mulling plans of using methods such as bio-enzymes to reduce the stench. Usually, bio-enzymes are used to counteract the smell of urine and body odour. The Telangana Pollution Control Board officials state that there is no official complaint given to them about the bad smell.

According to the residents, the stench originating from the Jawahar Nagar dumpyard was from the months of November to February due to the wind movement in that direction. But this year it has occurred early, leaving many of them baffled.