It is time for the authorities to dump the existing garbage from the dumping yard in the closed and defunct granite quarries on the outskirts of town
KARIMNAGAR, JULY 15, 2026: Karimnagar town, which is growing in leaps and bounds, is also choking on the dense smoke billowing from the garbage dump yard of the Municipal Corporation of Karimnagar (MCK) on the shores of the proposed Manair River Front (MRF) of Manair River on the outskirts of the town.
Due to the prevailing heat-wave conditions, the garbage dump caught fire and the smoke engulfed the entire Karimnagar and adjoining villages along the shores of the river Manair. Thanks to the so-called ‘visionary’ leadership of the then BRS leaders, who had claimed that the Cable-stayed bridge and Manair river front on the shores of the LMD reservoir would turn into icons of Karimnagar and attract tourists, but it in reality it had turned into an ‘ugly city’ as one enters the town from the shores LMD reservoir with the smoke smell from the garbage dump yard.
“It is a pity that the Smart City has turned into a choking city, forcing the people to gasp for breath. It is really disgraceful that the Karimnagar Smart city has been reduced to an object of shame”, said a representative of Lok Satta Udyama Samstha in Karimnagar town. He said that the Air Quality Index (AQI) was informing the people to wear face masks, remain indoors and use air purifiers to breathe fresh air.
It may be recalled that Minister for Transport and BC welfare Ponnam Prabhakar had visited the dump yard on March 12, 2026, by wearing a mask following the toxic fumes emanating from the garbage dumping yard. The Minister promised to take all measures for the clearance of garbage at the dump-yard by taking up massive bio-mining operations at the site. But it remained a distant dream, forcing the people to suffer from the toxic fumes.
The then BRS government had taken up Manair River Front on the shores of the LMD reservoir, adjoining the huge garbage dump yard, to encourage tourism without any vision. Surprisingly, the present Congress government had also supported the Manair River Front and allocated funds for its completion, which is progressing at a snail’s pace.
Ironically, they are missing the logic of how a garbage dumping yard can become a tourist centre when there are heaps of garbage dumps emitting smoke and foul smell along the shores of MRF. It is time for the authorities to remove the garbage dumping yard from the existing location, where an iconic proposed ‘MRF’ would come up soon.
The authorities should remember that the bio-mining operation has been in progress for a long time and there is no respite from the smoke and pungent smell being emanated from the garbage dumping yard, which covers the entire Karimnar like a ‘fog’, choking people of the town.
As the Minister for Transport is talking about the relocation of the garbage dumping yard from Karimnagar, it is high-time the authorities choose defunct and closed granite quarries on the outskirts of Karimnagar such as Elgandal, Odyaram and other places for the dumping of the existing 45 lakh tonnes of garbage on the huge open cast mines and later cover it with red or alluvial soils and take up plantations by sprinkling water and regenerate the area.
‘The geo-mining of the existing garbage dumping yard is a herculean task, and it is time to relocate the garbage from the spot and dump it in any of the closed and defunct granite quarries and solve the issues without any problem.
In spite of a series of incidents of garbage fires, neither the MCK authorities nor the Karimnagar legislator was taking any measures to relocate the dumping yard to any other location. The environmentalists suggest that the garbage can be dumped in the closed granite quarries and covered with mud, and plants can be grown to protect the environment from pollution.
Photo captions: The pictures of smoke engulfing the entire Karimnagar town on Wednesday morning due to a garbage fire on the shores of the LMD reservoir
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