Congress clears 86-acre ‘eco-town’. Residents smell a dump
Telangana okays solid-waste facilities at Siddapur on 86 acres. Locals and BRS leaders warn of water and farm risks; the Congress government in Telangana has not explained the safeguards — or why this site.
The approval names an ‘Eco-Town’; the safeguards and site rationale remain unpublished.
The Congress government in Telangana has approved solid-waste‑management facilities at Siddapur village, Kothur mandal — 86 acres across survey numbers 252, 278 and 361 — under what it calls a Japan‑inspired “Eco‑Town”. The order is recorded as G.O.Rt.No.641 dated July 2, 2026, with copies to the TSPCB, and HiMSW named to establish facilities, according to reports summarising the GO. The GHMC had earlier sought transfer of 150 acres at the same survey numbers from TSIIC for an Eco‑Town, a filing before the National Green Tribunal shows.
Officials are selling “Eco‑Town”. Residents are hearing “new dumping yard”. Locals and BRS leaders have opposed the plan, citing risks to groundwater, agriculture and public health, including possible impact on nearby tanks; these are their concerns, not findings of an environmental study located in the record. Harish Rao has asked the government to withdraw the GO and warned of protests. A citizen group has flagged the site’s proximity to sensitive water bodies. No environmental‑impact report, consent‑to‑establish, capacity detail or hydrology map has been published alongside the approval in the material we could locate.
Context: the state itself said in January 2024 that Hyderabad dumps about 8,000 tonnes a day at Jawahar Nagar and promised new facilities “far away from residential areas” and “without disturbing local people”. Siddapur now has a GO; the distance‑and‑disturbance tests have not been shown. The Congress government in Telangana has not bothered to explain why Siddapur beats other sites, or what hard safeguards keep “Eco‑Town” from becoming “dump yard”.