Cleanliness a mirage here

Garbage littered all around, stinking open spaces, stray dogs fighting for food, open defecation, mosquito menace and people walking around with their nose covered --- one can see all this around City Municipal Council’s vice president Jabeen Taj’s residence in the city.

Jabeen Taj’s residence is at Nakkalakunte. It is called Shanthinagar (ward number 21) and is plagued by not just one or two, but many civic problems.

Shanthinagar lies adjacent to a plot of land belonging to Railway Department. Most of the residents here are either poor or labourers. With no awareness on proper disposal of waste and cleanliness, they have made this a dumping yard by throwing garbage on vacant. Some residents claimed that civic workers rarely visit the area like guests!

They said civic workers collect the garbage and dispose it of on a vacant land in the area. No one knows when waste collected is disposed of here. Open defecation is a common scene. The residents said they cannot even have food as the whole area stinks to the core.

“Quarrels are common if we ask the people who come to defecate and dump garbage here,” they charged.

They expressed apprehension about contracting epidemic diseases as the number of mosquitoes has multiplied due to water stagnation and lack of a proper drainage system. “We are also scared of sending our children out of the houses due to stray dog menace,” they said.

They held the councillors and the CMC officials responsible for all the mess. “When the condition of CMC vice president’s area is itself bad, what can be said of other wards? How they can they ensure cleanliness?” they questioned.

Some of them said it will be good if the CMC keeps a container to put garbage.
The area houses a slum and a graveyard. The residents have to consume groundwater mixed minerals.

We are scared that children may get diseases from mosquito bite if we send them out of our houses. We can heave a sigh of relief if the city municipality council keeps a box to dump garbage here. No one should go through waht we are undergoing, said Geetha a resident.