VISAKHAPATNAM: Lack of civic amenities is giving sleepless nights to the residents of Two Town area. Open drainage system in Bangaramma Metta near Dabagardens remains a long-pending problem and residents say repeated pleas to the civic officials have yielded no result thus far.
Further, a water pipeline jutting out of the road at the entrance of the colony is making it difficult for bikers. Hanging wires passing close to the terraces are giving the residents the jitters.
With over 50 families living in the lane, they are prone to health issues. The 10-year-old water pipeline has become a major problem when people travel through the lane during night. “Streetlights in the area hardly work regularly, while many children get injured by the pipeline while playing.
At least one person falls down accidentally daily while passing through the lane. Meanwhile, the release of water for 45 minutes is not at all sufficient to meet our needs.
Once the water stops, we have to wait till next morning,” said Sarswathi. The houses in the narrow lane are very close to each other with hardly any space between them.
While sitting out to have chit-chat during evenings, the residents have to put up with the stink from the drain which is clogged with household waste.
“Not even one official pays attention to the area. We clean the drain regularly, while the sanitary staff clean drains once a week. In between if we leave the drains uncleaned, our children will be affected with all kinds of infections. It is then the civic staff do mosquito fogging and distribute medicines,” said K Lakshmi, a resident of Bangaramma Metta.
Another major threat that the Bangaramma Metta faces is hanging wires on the walls of the houses. Standing on the first floor of the house, most of the wires are covered by clothes. Forgetting that those are cable wires and some even electricity wires, many residents even exchange things from one house to another.
“Leaning against the wall is dangerous during rainy season. Electricity shocks may be felt as the poles are bent towards buildings. Many even use them as clothes lines. This is even more dangerous to the children,” said S Dhana Lakshmi, who lives on the first floor.
Contacted, Zone III (ward 28) sanitary inspector M Kasi Rao said, “We have been making door-to-door collection of domestic waste but many residents forget and dump it in the drains. It has been a few months since we have taken up works to solve the problem.”
On the insufficient supply of water to the residents of the area, AE (water works) V Satyanarayana said that when there is no proper supply of water from the reservoirs, we cannot do anything.
Otherwise sufficient water is provided. On the water pipeline in the middle of the road, he said that the problem would be solved soon.