Official apathy and civic indifference blamed for garbage-filled drains in Tirupati

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Tirupati Municipal Corporation worker clears huge pile-up of silt from the major drain near Karumariyamma temple in Tirupati on Tuesday. | Photo Credit: K.V. Poornachandra Kumar

Garbage-filled streets in the heart of the temple city have once again highlighted official apathy and civic indifference. The Tirupati Municipal Corporation (TMC) workers had recently cleared truckloads of silt from the major drain abutting Karumariyamma Temple on Tilak Road, but were seen clearing the drain again on Tuesday (October 6, 2026). City administrators blamed the problem on continued dumping of garbage into open drains by residents.

Though the entire city has a well-laid underground drainage system (UDS), this particular 250-metre stretch on Tilak Road, from Karumariyamma Temple to the TTD’s Sridevi Complex, does not come under this network. This stretch is located just a stone’s throw away from the Municipal Corporation junction.

According to reports, nearly sixty households had paid the challan more than 20 years ago for the UDS, yet this stretch remains left out allegedly due to an official oversight, which engineering officials admitted in private.

“The city planners and engineers are trying to wash off their hands by expressing helplessness, without even trying a correction course,” said a resident, who has filed several complaints about the issue during the government’s Public Grievance Redressal System (PGRS).

The commercial buildings also reportedly encroached on the storm water drain, filling it with mud.

The corporation has tasked the work as an ‘Herculean effort’, but residents feel that clearing the area is still possible, as the city’s sewer line network has undergone tremendous changes in the last two decades.

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