Srungavarapukota Assembly constituency, popularly known as S Kota, has remained neglected for the past three decades as both TDP and Congress governments have not been giving priority to development of the segment.
Though the constituency is in close proximity to the port city of Visakhapatnam, it has not seen much development and faces problems related to infrastructure, drinking and irrigation water facilities and education.
There is a long-standing demand for setting up a government degree college and a polytechnic college but no concrete steps have been taken in the direction. Students, particularly girls, are forced to travel to Visakhapatnam on a daily basis to pursue higher education. This travel is creating a lot of trouble for them. “ If there was degree college here, it would save us a lot of trouble,” Poorna, an intermediate student in Sungavarapukota said.
Modernisation of the Jagaram-Alugubilli channel, which caters to the irrigation needs of 1,500 acres, is another demand of the people in the constituency. The demand for the construction of the Vijayarama Sagar irrigation project has been a long-standing one but with no response from successive governments.
The population in the constituency is spread over S Kota, Kothavalasa, Vepada and L Kota is dominated by BCs and their issues will have to be the priority of the candidates seeking mandate.
“As the Telugu Desam Party won the segment in 2009, the government neglected the constituency. Minister Botcha Satyanarayana never supported any development works. Though we even proposed to take up the much needed Jagaram-Alugubill channel from the Tatipudi reservoir, the government did not support us. Though assurance for a Rubber Dam was given instead of a channel, it remains an empty promise,” Local MLA K Lalita Kumar laments.