Garbage burning goes unabated on Godavari banks, Bhadrachalam residents face health issues

Residents of Bhadrachalam in Kothagudem district complain about daily burning of garbage on the banks of the Godavari River, causing heavy smoke, health problems and inconvenience to locals and devotees ahead of Sri Rama Navami celebrations

Kothagudem: Unabated burning of garbage on the banks of river Godavari has been troubling the residents of temple town Bhadrachalam in the district.

The residents are complaining that despite several complaints to higher authorities the local gram panchayat staff continue to dump garbage on the banks of the river and set it on fire. The smoke rising from the burning garbage engulfed Chapta Diguva Veedhi, Raja Veedhi, Brahmana Bazaar, Mudiraj Bazaar, Shipi Nagar, Kunavaram road and other areas besides reaching the temple area.

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Speaking to Telangana Today the residents of the affected colonies, G Venkateshwarlu and K Kiran said the gram panchayat staff is burning the garbage every day in the morning and evening. As a result they are forced to inhale smoke. It is sad that in spite of complaints to Bhadrachalam gram panchayat and other officials in the past the problem was not resolved, they said.

A resident of Kunavaram road area Srilatha said that they are suffering from burning eyes as well severe cough as garbage includes plastic waste. Due to smoke the residents are unable to sleep at night, she said while a woman who runs a store in the area said customers stopped coming to the store as smoke caused inconvenience to them.

It might be noted that garbage collected from households and from commercial establishments in the town has been dumped along the river embankment for the past several years as the town lacked a proper dumping yard some time back.

A site was allotted for developing a dumping yard at Manubothula tank in Bhadrachalam mandal in 2022 and subsequently a dry resource collection centre (DRCC) was developed to produce vermicompost after segregating dry and wet waste. But the GP staff is dumping garbage on Godavari banks.

The residents wanted the district Collector and ITDA project officer to look into the issue and see that burning of garbage stopped forthwith as the smoke from burning garbage would also cause inconvenience to devotees visiting the town to take part in ensuing Sri Rama Navami celebrations.