VIJAYAWADA: Corporators of both the ruling Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and opposition YSR Congress, who attended a meeting of the Vijayawada Municipal Corporation (VMC) on Wednesday, complained that poor sanitation and garbage menace were plaguing the city. Highlighting the issue during question hour, ruling party corporator Muppa Venkateswara Rao said majority of the people in various divisions are suffering a lot due to poor sanitation and lack of civic amenities. Though the corporation was spending huge amounts for maintaining sanitation, residents of several colonies had been suffering from the problem of sewage overflows, he said. Rao also expressed dissatisfaction over many sanitation workers skipping their duties and wanted the officials to deploy more of these workers, especially in slums.
VMC chief medical officer M Gopi Naik said, “Lack of monitoring from sanitary inspectors and workers at the division level has led to poor sanitation in the city. Door-to-door garbage collection will be taken up by sanitation workers on war footing to remove garbage on the streets. Cleaning silt in the drains is also another problem for the corporation over the years. He appealed to the denizens not to dump waste, which was clogging the drains. Responding to the issue, mayor Koneru Sridhar expressed his dissatisfaction on public health department officials and sanitary inspectors for their indifferent attitude. The mayor also took a dig at the officials for citing lame excuses for not maintaining proper sanitation in the city.
Sridhar instructed health and sanitation workers to undertake fogging operations in different colonies and ensure better treatment at urban health centres to avoid spread of viral fever. He directed the officials to ensure that open drains in the city were covered and disinfectants sprayed near the drains. Sridhar also wanted the officials to clear weeds and bushes in colonies to prevent breeding of mosquito.