VIJAYAWADA: Thousands of families residing on the Srilanka Colony, hill slope located near Machavaram in the city are facing series of problems due to lack of sanitation, drainage facility and dilapidated steps to reach their houses. The residents have to walk all the way up and down the hill each day. During monsoon or untimely rains, fear grips the hill slope residents of the colony. The long-time problems of inundation of roads, loose rocks rolling and others put people in panic mode. There were no concrete efforts from the officials, though deaths and damage of water pipelines were reported earlier. The VMC officials are yet to learn a lesson from such incidents.
‘’It had become a regular habit for us to carry grocery and other essential commodities in bulk to cater to their needs for a period of two months at time. In monsoon, we have no idea when the boulders will roll down from the hill,’’ said Ch Simhachalam, a resident of the colony. Several times, we have submitted representations to the civic body to allocate housing facilities for hill slope residents in and around the city. But the officials turn a deaf ear to our proposals. At least now, the officials should allocate adequate housing facility for the hill slope residents to avoid untoward incidents, he said.
“Driving down the main roads running along the foothills is a difficult task. A good number of residents living on the hills are autorickshaw and taxi drivers. As there is no chance of taking their vehicles uphill, they park them on the road alongside the hill. These vehicles block half the road hampering the smooth flow of traffic,” says K Vara Prasad Rao, another resident.
“The modus operandi of the land grabbers is to first raise a hut with the support of local leaders and the corporator concerned. The next step is to get a door number from the municipal corporation and then other benefits like ration cards follow,” senior VMC town planning department official said. Finding a permanent solution to the problems of hill slope dwellers is a politically risky affair. But, the corporation is providing basic amenities like drinking water supply and sanitation to the residents of hill slopes, he added.
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Rain exposes poor state of infra
The long-time problems of inundation of roads, loose rocks rolling and others put people in panic mode during monsoon or untimely rains
There were no concrete efforts from the officials, though deaths and damage of water pipelines were reported earlier
Several times, we have submitted representations to the civic body to allocate housing facilities for hill slope residents in and around the city. But the officials turn a deaf ear to our proposals
Ch Simhachalam, a resident of Srilanka Colony
The corporation is providing basic amenities like drinking water supply and sanitation to the residents of hill slopes which is a herculean task a senior VMC town planning department official