Eluru canal chokes with garbage; municipal authorities term it a temporary problem

The sight of a garbage-chocked Eluru canal near the Vijayawada railway station raises questions about the efficacy of municipal corporation’s measures in keeping canals clean.

Of the three canals and a rivulet that flow through the city, Bandar and Ryves canals don’t require much cleaning, but the Budameru rivulet and Eluru canal carry a lot of filth. The business centre of the city, One Town, is mainly connected to Eluru canal, and all the waste from commercial establishments from here lands in it.

What’s worse, plastic waste has increased immensely owing to the desilting work going on at a pump house near the railway station and all the waste is being let into the canal, said V. Kameswara Rao, a biologist at the Vijayawada Municipal Corporation. “Earlier, waste used to get accumulated once in 15 days. Now, despite cleaning the canal every day, it is getting accumulated the next morning,” Mr. Kameswara Rao said.

But, civic associations believe that it is a recurring problem and a penalty system has to be in place to check dumping of garbage in water-bodies. “The water from Eluru canal is used for different purposes, including drinking, by tail-end towns and villages. It is therefore imperative that we keep the canal clean. When penalties are imposed, public will hesitate to dispose of garbage in water bodies,” said Taxpayers’ Association general secretary M.V. Anjaneyulu.

At present, there is no such system in place. However, fencing is erected on all the bridges, constructed over the canals. To ensure that the waste does not get carried further, the corporation has put in place a filtering system that traps all the waste in the canal near the railway station, said Sreedhar, a sanitary supervisor from One Town. “That’s why one always finds waste accumulated here,” he said, denying that the canals are not being cleaned regularly.

At present, the corporation has taken up a drive to remove hyacinth and garbage in the three canals and the rivulet as part of measures to prevent mosquito breeding. But, because the disilting work at the pump house is expected to go on for a few days, the pile up of garbage in Eluru canal may continue for a while.