Hyderabad: Manhole silt dumped on road

Hyderabad: The Sewerage Board staff dumps the silt dredged up from manholes on the road next to the same manholes. This results in the sludge sliding back into the manhole or getting pasted to the road where there is heavy vehicle movement.

This is commonly seen in the core areas like Ramnagar, Adikmet, Musheerabad, Padmaraonagar, Secunderabad, Marredpally, Narayanguda, Himayathnagar, Abids, Koti and Old City but also in prime areas like Madhapur, Jubilee Hills and Kukatpally.

Officials were well informed about the issue and claimed the board had been planning to hold a meeting to chalk out a solution to end dumping of silt by the roadside. Officials said the silt has to be dried before it can be carried to the dump yard. According to official data, the board received 3,39,080 complaints about silt being dumped by the roads since March last year and managed to close 90 per cent of them.

Sewerage Board sources said that the officials, hand in glove with contractors, were claiming bills worth Rs 58.6 lakh annually without attending to 90 per cent of grievances raised by residents, especially regarding drainage sludge on the city’s roads. They said the silt pasted on roads would eventually choke manholes during monsoon, which would be a major problem in the long run.

Mr Hussain Ahmed, residing in Golla Komaraiah Colony of Bhoiguda division, said the Sewerage Board staff had cleaned the silt last week. “The board staff dumped the silt onto the road and left it to dry. It has now got pasted to the road. Even though several complaints were lodged with the board to remove the silt none of them were attended to,” he said.

Mr Rajender Reddy, a resident of Padmaraonagar, said the foul smell emanating from the silt forced the residents to dump it back in the manhole. The issue has been reported to the board, but there has been no response yet. A senior board official said private contractors were instructed to remove the silt after two days. He said that issue was brought to his notice and the number of silt dumping cases were being verified through ground-level inspection before blacklisting contractors.

Asked about delay in silt removal by HMWS&SB, the official said the board has just 128 airtech machines (71 mini, 46 private, 11 government) to attend to over 1,000 grievances cases daily.

The board has been receiving as many as 1,012 complaints a day. Though manual scavenging has been banned, on a few occasions they use labour to remove chokage and dump them beside manholes due to limited machinery.