Project displaced villagers express concern as road laid under High tension wires

Markapuram: The rehabilitation colonies for the displaced families under the Veligonda project are a perfect example of the negligence of government officials.

The engineers, who need to prepare the layout, construct and oversee the works left the works to the contractors, who in turn depended on the ground-level staff, who blindly followed the design without using any common sense.

The officials and contractors who should provide the infrastructure in the settlement colonies neglected the safety of the people, who are about to vacate their native villages permanently for the welfare of lakhs of people. High tension electricity transmission lines exist at the site selected for construction of Idupuru-1 Colony for the project displaced.

But the engineers didn't give a second thought and designed a concrete road, just to intersect a tower that holds high tension power cables and laid it. The locals, who witnessed the work by the officials, are worried about the quality of houses they are going to build for them.

The EE at Markapuram, Potluri Chinababu, said that the district officials discussed the road under tower earlier, but the department couldn't take any action on the contractor, as the officials also might have been involved in the construction. He said that they wanted to obstruct the road by placing cement blocks on the entrance of the road.

He said that they will utilise the plot beside it to construct the road to give diversion.