Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad   

Road-digging adds to residents' woes

By R. Ravikanth Reddy

A view of the road that was dug up to lay pipeline in the New Gokhale Nagar. — Photo: K. Ramesh Babu.

HYDERABAD, JUNE 8. The councillor's disappearance since his election to office, the indifferent attitude of municipal officials in supervising works and a contractor's disregard to the norms - a combination of these factors is making life worse for residents of New Gokhale Nagar in Ramanthapur under the Uppal Municipality limits.

The already congested roads in the colony have been reduced to narrow paths, thanks to the alleged indiscriminate digging by the contractor chosen for laying underground drainage lines. Residents are not finding fault with the digging, but the contractor's callousness in completing the work. It has been more than a month since the road was dug in several lanes, but the work is yet to commence.

"Why can't they dig the road only when they are ready to complete it. People can take the inconvenience for two or three days, but not for a month," says Venkatesh Pimple, general secretary of the New Gokhale Nagar Residents' Welfare Association.

An agitation by residents has forced officials to cover up the dug roads in some lanes only without completing the work. "Residents are finding it difficult to walk into their homes. Such is the level of indiscriminate digging," Mr. Venkatesh says. He wants to know why municipal officials, who are supposed to supervise the works, never turn up. "The inferior material being used only reflects how engineers and contractors are hand in glove," Mr. Venkatesh points out, adding that the resident welfare associations should be involved in the work. "That is the only way out to ensure proper spending of public money," he avers

Residents are also sore over the attitude of the Municipal Commissioner and the local councillor, B. Srinivas, who, they allege, have little regard to residents' problems. "The councillor has vanished after he was elected and our efforts to reach him have always been futile," Mr. Venkatesh alleges. Residents have been seeking a new rickshaw to carry garbage as the old one got damaged. "But even this small request has not been granted so far," he says.

Shortage of drinking water is yet another problem plaguing the area. However, with the arrival of Krishna water, the problem has been addressed to by and large. But residents complain that the water being supplied is not potable. "It is full of mud unlike Manjira water, which is clean," Mr. Venkatesh says.

(Readers are welcome to write about civic problems in their areas to the City Editor, The Hindu , Begumpet, Hyderabad - 16 or email to hydlife@thehindu.co.in)

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Andhra Pradesh

News: Front Page | National | Tamil Nadu | Andhra Pradesh | Karnataka | Kerala | New Delhi | Other States | International | Opinion | Business | Sport | Miscellaneous |
Advts: Classifieds | Employment | Updates: Breaking News |

Stories in this Section

• Road-digging adds to residents' woes
• Musi project makes little headway
• No power supply in many areas
• MLA for cleaning of nalas on a war-footing
• MCH to buy loaders for garbage clearance
• Berths available on trains
• No water tomorrow
• New sky show
• Hospital's special packages
• SCCL lauded
• Around the City
• In Hyderabad Today

Copyright © 2004, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu