Toxic fumes from a garbage dumping yard fire is choking people of Karimnagar due to inefficient MCK authorities
Residents to stage novel protest by organising Bathukamma with the slogan of ‘dumping yard hatao’
It is time for the Minister for Transport to dump the existing garbage in the closed and defunct granite quarries on the outskirts of town
KARIMNAGAR, MARCH 12, 2026: People of Karimnagar town in general and the residents whose houses are near the dumping yard are facing health risks due to toxic fumes from burning garbage mounds on the shores of the Manair River of the LMD reservoir on the outskirts of Karimnagar town.
Residents complained that this week they had to smell acrid fumes for hours while sitting inside rooms. On Monday, suddenly, the toxic fumes spread throughout Karimnagar town and caused several health problems. The morning walkers and others rushed back to their homes as they were unable to bear the fumes and smoke that spread over the town.
Irked over the adamant attitude of the elected representatives and the Municipal officials, the residents of Alkapuri colony, Kothirampur, Housing board colony and others, who are mostly affected due to the toxic fumes from the garbage dumping yard, have decided to stage a novel protest by organising Bathukamma with the slogan of Garbage dumping yard hatao on October 13 at 5 pm in Karimnagar.
Thanks to the so-called visionary leadership of BRS, who had claimed that the iconic cable-stayed bridge and Manair Riverfront on the shores of the LMD reservoir would turn into a national tourist hub, ironically, they had not removed the garbage dumping abutting the Manair River and the garbage is strewn all around the riverbed and the frequent garbage fires were forcing the people of Karimnagar town to choke.
“It is pity that the Smart City has turned into choking city forcing the people gasping for breath. It is really a disgrace 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.
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 cover it with mud, and plants can be grown to protect the environment from pollution.
Ironically, the officials and leaders are missing the logic of how a place (MRF and cable-stayed bridge) can become a tourist centre when there are heaps of garbage dumps emanating 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 MRF would come up soon.
Minister for Transport Ponnam Prabhakar, who had visited the garbage dumping yard site recently, along with Choppadandi legislator Medipalli Satyam, Municipal Commissioner Praful Desai and others few months back, assured to take all measures for the clearance of garbage at the dump-yard by taking up massive bio-mining operations at the site,
The Minister 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 Karimnagar 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 40 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”, the environmentalists say.
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