Early morning fog, leachate from the municipal dump yard, potholes and a zigzagging stretch triggered a series of freak accidents on the Malkaram-Jawaharnagar road on Tuesday morning. However, nobody was injured in the mishaps on Tuesday where a small carrier vehicle flipped over, as did two cars while a municipal dumper lost balance. “Yesterday one old lady fell off the bike and her right arm was skinned. That was just one accident. The accidents have become frequent over the last 15 days,” said Ratnamma, who runs a small tea stall near the road junction.
“We just filled up the pothole which had caused a few accidents,” said a civic official on the spot in the afternoon ruling out any role of leachate for the accidents. A motorpump to drain the dark pool of water on the road and two earthmovers to spread a layer of sand were deployed by the municipality as a measure to bring stability to moving vehicles. The officials also positioned barricades to slow down vehicles.
Local residents challenged the point about the potholes leading to accidents. “The lecheate from the lake is spilling on to the road. Even now you can see pools of the dark coloured liquid which looks like water but is a greasy spread over the road,” said Keshav, who posted a video of the accidents earlier in the day. The water in the bigger lake with dry stumps of trees looks like oil with a florid pink layer formed by bacteria that thrive in untreated water. This water spilled over to the road leading to accidents.
A rancid odour hangs in the air by evening that becomes overpowering and stays that way till morning. The smog and dust reduce visibility both in the morning and evening, says Keshav.
Everyday, the road is used by hundreds of heavy dumpers carrying municipal waste from across the city. According to an estimate, nearly 6,000 tonnes of garbage is carted from the city to the Jawaharnagar dumpyard. “My shop is nearly 2 km from the dumpyard but we get the foul smell through the day and night. I live nearby and the smell is worse there,” said Ratnakar, who has been running a medical store in Balaji Nagar area for the past three years.
In November, Hyderabad MSW Energy Solutions, a special purpose vehicle of Ramky Enviro Engineers commissioned 19.8 MW waste-to-energy plant in Phase-I at the dumpyard.