Hyderabad: The first thing one sees at the Quli Qutub Shahi Archaeological Park complex these days is garbage. Plastic bottles and disposable paper plates are piling up inside the tombs and the sanitation workers are burning the garbage indiscriminately inside the premises.

Only four women have been hired to clean the sprawling 80-acre campus of complex. “We work from 9am to 6pm everyday, but the complex is so huge that four of us can’t clean the entire premises. Also, our contract with the department will end in March,” said a sanitation worker.

A year ago, around 30 sanitation workers were working at the Qutub Shah tombs site, but the department has reportedly reduced the number owing to budget cuts. Raheem Shah Ali, deputy director of Archaeology, said, “The site is under renovation so a lot of litter might have accumulated because of the ongoing work.” He added that the number of workers employed shouldn’t be a matter of concern because “garbage is being disposed off”.

However, not a single dustbin is visible at the site and visitors have started littering even the inside area of the tombs. The sanitation workers said that the dustbins were stolen from the premises and new ones haven’t been placed by the authorities.

However, Mr Raheem Shah Ali said, “No one stole the bins. The garbage bins were removed to fulfil the Unesco World Heritage Site guidelines.” He added that the department is “trying to find a solution to the problem”.