Hyderabad: Furious with municipal staff for not clearing garbage from their area for months, about 50 residents of a ward under the Mahabubabad municipality recently marched into the civic office in protest with bags of waste in hand. The irked residents of Ward No. 21, who were accompanied by their elected member, alleged that garbage had been piling up for almost three months, leading to unsanitary conditions in the locality.They dumped the waste bags and buckets in the govt office to highlight their plight.Speaking to TOI, ward member Zareena Begum said residents resorted to such a protest after repeated complaints went unanswered. She claimed that locals had earlier warned officials that they would take such a step if the garbage issue remained unresolved for long.“First, they said that the garbage truck was not coming because there was no driver. Then, in the last one-and-a-half months, they started saying that the vehicle was under repair,” rued Zareena, adding, “No one is collecting garbage properly. It’s not even being picked up once a week, and many times they come around 2 pm–3 pm, when there is hardly anyone at home.”Residents reiterated that due to the negligence of municipal employees, they are forced to live in filthy conditions. According to them, they have no choice but to keep waste bags inside their homes, as monkeys litter the garbage kept outside for collection.“Sadly, even after we dumped the garbage at the municipal office on Wednesday, there has not been much change on the ground. On Thursday, the vehicle visited only a couple of lanes,” said Ravi Kumar, a local resident.Ward 21 has about 1,800 voters and a population of around 4,000. The councillor claimed the ward was being neglected because it is not represented by a ruling party member.Officials, meanwhile, expressed displeasure over the residents’ act. “I was not aware of the issue. The councillor could have directly approached me instead of bringing garbage to the municipal office,” said G Jyoti Ramesh, Mahabubabad municipal chairman. “We have looked into the issue. It’s true that there is some problem with the garbage truck. Our officials were trying to manage with available vehicles, but garbage from this ward was being collected during the afternoon. We will now ensure that garbage is picked up regularly,” he said.
