Kothagudem: Residents protest garbage dumping in graveyard by municipal staff

Residents of SC Colony in Paloncha have been protesting against the dumping of garbage in a local graveyard, holding a series of protests and even staging a late-night dharna. Their actions have disrupted sanitation activities in the town. The residents claim that Paloncha Municipality sanitation staff have been dumping not only garbage but also dead animals in the graveyard, creating difficulties for the community in performing last rites when needed. Miriyala Venkateshwarlu, a local resident, told Telangana Today that the graveyard has been used by the colony for decades.

Kothagudem: Dumping of garbage in a graveyard by municipal sanitation staff has forced the residents of SC Colony in old Paloncha to take to the streets.

The residents, who have been opposing dumping of garbage in the graveyard staged a series of protests for the last few days and even staged a dharna in the late night hours. Their protests hampered sanitation activity in Paloncha town in the district. They complained that Paloncha Municipality sanitation staff are dumping garbage as well as dead animals, sometimes, in the graveyard causing trouble for the residents in conducting last rites if any of the colony residents died.Speaking to Telangana Today, a resident of the colony, Miriyala Venkateshwarlu informed that the colony residents have been using the graveyard for the past several decades. Memorandums were given to municipal and district officials during grievance cell meetings to take steps to stop turning the graveyard into a dumping yard, but in vain, he said.

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He said that there are around 1000 families living in the colony and the graveyard near the colony is the only place in the town where they are allowed to perform last rites of deceased persons of the colony.

There is a graveyard, belonging to the BC community, in the vicinity of the colony, but the SC Colony residents are not allowed to perform last rites of their deceased family members there.

The graveyard of the colony is also used by residents of a nearby village Yerragunta. When the residents staged protests in the past over the issue, the municipal staff stopped garbage dumping for some time and started it again, he noted.

Performing last rites of a dead person is supposed to be done in an honourable manner. But the colony residents are forced to do it amidst garbage by cleaning the area, Venkateshwarlu lamented.

He demanded the municipal officials and the local legislator to ensure that the place is cleaned up and a Vaikunta Dhamam built there. He said the colony residents would meet Kothagudem MLA Kunamneni Sambasiva Rao soon to seek him to address the issue.