HYDERABAD, Jan 7: Residents of Gurunagar, Machhli (fish) Market, Fakir Ka Pir and adjoining localities face annoying hardships in moving about for routine jobs or businesses as they have to splash through stagnant sewage which has flooded streets of their areas for almost seven months.

Overflowing gutters has turned the main road, from Gurunagar roundabout to Machhli Market, into a mini lake and sanitation workers have failed to clear the blockage or find its cause.

The residents said they had repeatedly complained to officials of the Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (HMC) and Water and Sanitation Agency (Wasa) but received no encouraging response.

Mohammad Aslam Khatri, a trader in Gurunagar, said that even though a new sewerage line had been laid in the area two years ago but it did little to solve the problem.

He said that people had to wade through stinking sewage to move about for routine jobs and even for shopping, which had seriously affected business in the main cloth market and Machhli Market.

He said the three sanitation workers working in the area had tried their best to clear blocked lines but to no avail. Whenever they had registered complaints with HMC officials they just passed the buck to the Hyderabad Development Authority (HDA) and Wasa and their officials did the same, he said, adding the area residents had been fed up with their attitude.

Mohammad Aslam, an owner of a dairy in the locality, said the faulty sewerage system had destroyed his business. The stagnant water was pumped dry at night but it reappeared in the morning, he said.

He said their locality was a low-lying area to which sewage flowed down from the areas of Pakka Qilla, Chotki Ghitti, Resham Bazaar, Shahi Bazaar and Fakir Ka Pir which were situated up on the hill.

Mohammad Jameel of Machhli Market said that students had to wade through the stagnant sewage to reach their educational institutions located on the main road, including S.K. Rahim Girls High School, Government City Science College and host of private English-medium schools.

He said that many government officials, MPAs and MNAs passed through this road but they never bothered to draw authorities’ attention to getting it cleared of sewage.

Nadeem Khan of Jani Shah locality said that his locality, Peshawari Mohallah and adjoining areas were the worst affected.

Gutters remained choked because of ongoing work on a sewage drain behind Machhli market, he said.

Wasa MD Saleemuddin said that sewage lines were laid in the area in 2008 under the Hyderabad Development Package. There was no apparent reason for the blockage in sewers besides the fact that traders of a number of small markets near cloth market were in the habit of throwing their solid waste into gutter lines which often caused chokes, he said.

He said that upon receiving a complaint from the area Wasa staff rushed to clear the lines on a priority basis because it was a business hub where many big and small markets were located.

He said that there was substantial pressure on gutter lines of these localities because a drain behind Machhli market was being revamped and its walls were being raised by the HMC.

HMC administrator Syed Barkat Rizvi was not available for comments.