Hyderabad: Lack of clean drinking water, choked drainage, uncleared garbage and dog menace are some of the issues that over 3.5 lakh voters in Karwan constituency want to be addressed by politicians who come to seek their votes in the Assembly elections.
The residents claim that the issues of basic amenities have been ignored by politicians for several years, making their lives difficult.
Fifty-eight-year-old Mumtaz Begum, a resident of Jiyaguda, who was born and brought up in the same area, says clean drinking water has been a perennial problem for them.
“Leaders come and go, but nobody cares about our troubles. Clean drinking water is a privilege for us. Even if we get water, it very often has a bad smell and we cannot use it even for washing purposes, forget about cooking and drinking. We have to spend extra to buy drinking water cans”, said Mumtaz.
The residents also complain of the drainage overflow in various lanes. The Karwan Sahu road has drainage overflowing for over a year now. Now with drainage water seeping in the soil, borewell water has also got polluted in many houses.
Seventy-year-old Venkateshwaralu, who owns a clothing store in the same lane, said they stopped using the borewell water as it had a foul smell, while the tap water was contaminated long back.
“I don’t remember seeing anyone come to talk to us about our concerns after the last election in 2018. Even if they come to visit, it will be only for votes and no real job would be done here”, said Venkateshwarlu.
P.R. Padmavati in Marathi Basti showed a 50-year-old Shiv temple inside her house, which was flooded with drainage water for at least six months.
“We have approached the local authorities countless number of times, but to no avail. We clean the water seeping from the ground in the temple with a motor pump, but it is a temporary solution. Every day, we see the Shiva Lingam submerged in the gutter water and we feel so helpless,” rued Padmavati.
Some times, the residents said, the drinking water emitted a strong odour of medicines, which was a serious risk to their health.
The residents of Subzi Mandi in Karwan constituency have been shelling extra money to get the drinking water.
Residents said that they have to bear the burden of paying the water bill as well as of buying water cans, because the drinking water that was supplied was contaminated, while the timings and frequency of the supply was also irregular.
Local resident S. Ahsaan said that the drinking and sewage water was getting mixed due to faulty connections, thus forcing them to buy water cans for drinking and cooking purposes.
Locals said they had little hope that the water supply issue would get resolved in the upcoming elections, but said that they were frustrated and angry with the apathy of the leaders who treated them just like a vote bank.
“I don’t care about which party candidate wins here. I want the candidate to bring some solution to our issues which we have been facing for decades and the same issues are being passed down to our children and grandchildren”, said octogenarian Md Sabir.
Dog menace and garbage dumps, they said, have also made the lives of the residents miserable at Karwan.
Md.Saif, a kirana shop owner in Jiyaguda, pointed to a garbage dump with foul smell, which had made their living impossible but the local authorities had failed to clean the dump.
Students and parents near the Wee the School have been facing a serious stray dog menace especially during morning and evening hours.
Tabassum Fatima, a teacher at the school, said there were two dog bite incidents in the last six months where two children were bitten by the strays and the dogs also chased the passerby due to which people were living under fear.
The residents said that they wanted to be looked at more than just vote banks and their votes should be valued irrespective of all the political parties aiming to win the seat.
