HYDERABAD: KachIguda ward - a reserved ward for women(general) - unlike most localities in the city does not face severe water issues. However, issues plaguing the ward are aplenty. One of the centrally located wards, it has witnessed exponential growth in past two decades with many multistorey houses and apartments coming up, resulting in some areas becoming very densely packed.
With a population of more than 53,000 people, there is a huge demand for conversion of sewer lines from 6 inch pipes to 8 inch pipes in around 60 locations in Kachiguda.
Corporator Aekkala Chaitanaya Kanna belonging to Telangana Rasgtra Samithi(TRS) says that till now, changing of pipelines has been done at around 14-15 areas for which `60 lakh has been spent. However, she says, the HMWS&SB has been slow in accepting proposals for other areas. The local Water Board engineer has also been blamed for not taking complaints by the corporator seriously for which a complaint letter was also given to IT minister KT Rama Rao.
Need houses for slum dwellers
The ward has the highest literacy rate in Telangana. There are also around 3,000 families living in slums awaiting houses under the 2BHK scheme. A proposal put forward by the Kachiguda corporator envisages construction of houses in two acres of railway land behind Kachiguda post office and two acres of police quarters land near Narayanaguda cross roads which is yet to be accepted by the state government.
Playground turns into parking slot
Kachiguda ward has just one GHMC playground at Chappal Bazar - with no amenities. Lakshman Rao, a former joint registrar from Osmania University, and a resident here, says, “I go all the way to Barkatpura for a walk even though playground is right beside my house. Garbage is often dumped in the ground. Many people from nearby areas park their cars here. No action has been taken till now.” The present corporator has plans of constructing a community hall on this playground.
Interior areas do not have streetlights
Many interior areas of Kachiguda do not have streetlights. Kanna says that she has raised the issue with GHMC but they have been delaying maintenance and installation of new lights as they plan installing LED streetlights. In Chappal Bazar, the residents have been operating the street lights themselves as the GHMC has not installed timers yet. Sometimes the residents also experience electric shock in doing the work.
Lack of dividers make road safety a serious issue
The road leading from Kachiguda station via Nimboliadda towards Chaderghat is a dangerous stretch. At night, vehicles from both sides zoom past each other crisscrossing the road without any regard to safety, thanks to lack of a divider. While road dividers exist in major roads, this stretch of road has been ignored over the years.