Garbage-filled Marrichettu Bavi in Khammam crying for officials’ attention

Once served as a drinking water source, it is now filled with garbage and causing inconvenience to the locals, who are demanding the authorities to take steps to clean it.

Khammam: An age-old well located at Marrichettu centre in Kummari Bazar area in Khammam city is crying for attention of the authorities.

The well is called Marrichettu bavi (Banyan tree well ) because of a huge Banyan tree by its side. Once served as a drinking water source, it is now filled with garbage and causing inconvenience to the locals, who are demanding the authorities to take steps to clean it.

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Speaking to Telangana Today, a resident of the area G Venkateshwarlu said the well could be around 300 years old and was built during the era of erstwhile Nizams of Hyderabad. Until 10 years ago the well served as a source of drinking water but is now abandoned.

With locals dumping garbage into the well it has become a health hazard as the people living in the vicinity are suffering from the bad smell due to the accumulation of garbage. The matter was taken to the notice of the municipal authorities several times but in vain, he complained.

During nights youths gather around the well to consume alcohol and throw the liquor bottles into the well as well as causing law and order problems. The police should patrol the area in the nights, Venkateshwarlu suggested.

The people who live in the area have been suffering from dengue and malaria during the rainy season as mosquitoes are breeding in the well. Last year a man living in the area was affected by elephantiasis because of the mosquito bite, he noted.

The locals fed up with the negligent attitude of the authorities have also staged a dharna recently to highlight the issue, Venkateshwarlu said while appealing to the municipal authorities to respond to the issue, clean the well and renovate it.