Despite its central location, the area is engulfed by filth, neglect, and an absence of basic infrastructure. (Photo: By Arrangement)
Hyderabad: In the heart of Secunderabad lies 108 Bazaar Basti, a settlement of over 150 families living under steel-sheet roofs in three cramped pockets. Despite its central location, the area is engulfed by filth, neglect, and an absence of basic infrastructure, forcing its residents to endure conditions that are both unhealthy and inhumane.
The lack of water is the community’s most crippling problem. There are no municipal water connections or borewells. InsteaTesidents rely on a tanker that arrives once every four days.
“We have to ration every drop — for drinking, cooking, and washing. If the tanker doesn’t come on time, we are left helpless,” said Saira Begum, a mother of four. She added that children often fall sick due to dehydration or the use of unhygienic water sourced from nearby drains.
The situation is worsened by the absence of a sewage system. Open drains overflow into narrow pathways, and the nauseating stench fills the air.
During the monsoons, these pathways turn into stagnant pools of dirty water. “The sewage mixes with rainwater, and our children have to wade through it just to get to school. It’s disgusting and dangerous,” said Kumar V.S., a long-time resident.
Sanitation facilities are non-existent. Temporary pipelines and bio-toilets installed in 2022 were removed, leaving the community with no functional drainage or toilets. “We begged for proper toilets, but they just took away even the temporary ones. Now we are back to using open spaces,” said another resident, explaining the indignity residents face daily.
The closure of Gates Nos. 1 and 3 since the Covid-19 pandemic has further isolated the community. These gates, which provide direct access to essential services, remain barricaded, forcing residents to walk an additional 2 kilometres to reach schools, markets, and healthcare facilities.
Women and children are most affected. At night, the absence of streetlights makes navigating these distances perilous. “We carry candles to find our way, but the darkness is terrifying. Last month, I saw a snake near the toilets and couldn’t sleep for days,” the woman resident told Deccan Chronicle.
The roads in the Basti, last repaired in 2020, have deteriorated into a maze of potholes, making them nearly unusable. Residents say that even ambulances struggle to reach their homes. “If someone falls sick, we can’t get them to a hospital quickly. We feel completely cut off,” said Kumar added.
Streetlights are non-functional, plunging the area into darkness every evening.
However, the Secunderabad Cantonment Board (SCB) CEO Madhukar Naik told Deccan Chronicle that no complaints about streetlights had reached his office. “If the residents come to us with their issues, we will certainly look into them,” he said.
Regarding the closure of Gates Nos. 1 and 3, he clarified that it fell under the jurisdiction of the local military authority (LMA). “The LMA is responsible for the gates. The SCB has no role in their closure,” he said.
He added that because the locals from the basti had informed the authorities about not being able to hold water for longer, “we have been giving them a one-hour water connection per three days, compared to 30-min connection in other areas of the Cantonment.”
For a settlement located in the middle of a modern city, the conditions in 108 Bazaar are nothing short of appalling. “We are treated like we don’t exist. No water, no sewage, no lights — this is not living, it’s surviving,” said Saira said. She added that the local MLA Sriganesh Narayanan had recently visited their locality and many promises, “we hope our issues would see the light of day at least now,” she said.
( Source : Deccan Chronicle )
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