Hussainsagar stench leaves passersby with a headache

Hyderabad: Morning walkers in the city cannot take a stroll around Hussainsagar without experiencing nausea and headache due to the unbearable stench emanating from the water, say frequent walkers.

Pollution Control Board (PCB) officials say that the stench has increased markedly since the onset of winter. T. Unnikrishnan, a general physician says, “The headache and nausea one feels depends on how long they have been exposed to the smell. 

One’s age and physical health is also among the other factors. Some people also feel irritation in the eye but that subsides once they move away from the area.” Doctors also say that most morning walkers are affected by the smell because while they are jogging or exercising they breathe in more air, and if the air contains bad odour then they breathe in more odour. 

HMDA officials say that Matrix Environment — a Canadian technology company that was in charge of cleaning the lake during summer — did a good job of reducing the stench in the lake. However, the Telangana government did not renew the contract of the company for financial reasons. 

Majid Shareef, an HMDA engineer says, “The Canadian technology was used as a trial run and it met all the targets. But the bid the company quoted for the contract was too high. 

Now, the severity of the odour is back again at a high. It will continue to worsen with time and we will know the ill-effects of it. The technology was useful and should have been continued.”

B. N. Reddy, superintendent engineer of HMDA, says, “We have not yet received a formal complaint about the stench from residents around Hussainsagar. We are trying to clean the area as much as possible but people also must desist from disposing a lot of waste in the lake which they do at present. The waste mixes with the water and causes the bad odour.” 

Doctors say that the smells serve as sensory stimuli, which turns to be a trigger for conditions like migraine. Varun K., a resident of Begumpet, says, “I was a frequent jogger at Tank Bund. We used to go there as a group also. But lately, the smell makes it impossible to be there for more than minute and so we had no choice but to give up the activity.”