Boduppal: Residents demand colleges, hospitals

Boduppal: Deprived of hospitals, schools and colleges, the residents of Boduppal are planning a hunger strike and a signature campaign every Sunday. They say that they would continue the campaign till the State government heeds to their demands. There are close to 2.5 lakh people residing in Boduppal.

About 15 residents sat on a hunger strike near the Ambedkar Statue on the colony's main road on Sunday. "Boddupal is 10 km away from the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation limits and comes under the newly-formed Boddupal Municipality and Medipally mandal.

As per the government rules, every mandal should have a separate government hospital and college but here it is opposite. The people during an emergency are forced to travel to Gandhi or Osmania Hospital which is miles away. We have a small UPHC, but it is not open round-the-clock. Due to this, the locals are forced to visit private hospitals by spending a huge amount," said Venkata Chary, a resident of Bodduppal.

For the past two years, the locals have been fighting over this issue, said Naveen, a resident of Bodduppal. "In our mandal at present, there is only a government school which offers education up to Class 10 and many students drop out due to non- availability of government colleges. Even to study in a private college, the students have to travel at least 10 km away from here," said Prashanth, a local.