VIJAYAWADA: Two months ago, a 30-year-old pregnant woman was lucky to have escaped with minor injuries, when she had slipped and fallen while being helped down the steep slope of the hill at Karmika Nagar. K Leela Rani, who was nine months pregnant, was being taken to hospital by her husband Raju, a daily-wage worker, for delivery.
There is no proper route to climb down from their hilltop colony and Raju took the risk of climbing down with his pregnant wife. He was lucky that nothing had happened to his wife and the foetus.
This is not an isolated incident for the residents of this hill-top colony, daily facing danger and most of these go unreported. Recalling what happened that day, Leela Rani, still shivers, reflecting on ‘what could have happened’. If only there were proper steps to climb down to the bottom of the hill-colony, the life of 200-odd people living there would not be at risk.
Even though property tax is being paid by the residents to Vijayawada Municipal Corporation (VMC) twice a year, Karmika Nagar, comprising 50 houses atop the hill, is bereft of basic facilities. It has no drinking water and sanitation facilities. Only a few families have managed to secure power connection to their homes, through means not so legal. House ‘pattas’ were issued to the residents by the State Government in 1981.
Those living on the slopes of the hill in the same colony can consider themselves a bit luckier than those on the summit. The reflection from street lamps lights up their homes. They also rely heavily on cell phone flash lights to light their homes. But daily problems are common for all. Commuting up and down is a daily hell. In case of emergencies, they have no other go, but to take the risk of running down the hill-slope.
For 65-year-old Garika Pakiramma, whose house is atop the hill, collecting her monthly old-age pension, by climbing down, is a painful task, but unavoidable. Like Pakiramma there are many elderly and differently-abled people facing severe health problems like joint and knee pains.Unable to suffer the pain of climbing up and down from their homes every day, most of the residents living on the hill-top colony make it a point to puchase groceries to last for two-three months.
“The prohibitive cost of land in the city, lack of cheap rented accommodation and lack of political backing have steeled our nerves to live dangerously,” Pakiramma remarked.With tears rising in her eyes, she recalled her elder son’s death a few years ago of heart attack. “He suffered heart attack, but we could not take him to hospital in time. He died,” she recalled.Officials should set up a primary health centre near the hill, she said.
‘’Though 50 families have been residing on the hill-top Karmika Nagar for the last one decade they are neglected totally by the officials. The hill-slopes do not have proper steps and connectivity, leaving the elderly and differently-abled in dire straits’’, said T Chakravarthy, AP Backward Classes Sangham State General Secretary. Representations were submitted to the corporator concerned, civic body officials and district administration, but none of them visited the colony.
‘’We will launch an agitation near VMC, if the civic body fails to address our problems in next one month,” Chakravarthy said.Speaking to TNIE, K Pitchaiah, work inspector of VMC, said that they have started survey work for preparing estimates for staircase to hilltop colony and drinking water pipeline on the directions of municipal commissioner J Nivas.
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