524 families from Krishna River bund get new houses

Vijayawada: The relocation of 524 families from the Krishna River bund downstream of Varadhi to the newly- constructed G+3 houses in Ajit Singh Nagar started on Wednesday.

After vacation of houses, the government will take the land for construction of retaining wall along the krishna river to check inundation in the areas close to the Krishna downstream areas.

City Mayor R Bhagyalakshmi, Municipal Commissioner Prasanna Venkatesh and officials from engineering, planning and other departments visited the colonies along the Krishna River downstream of Varadhi and spoke to the residents, who are to be relocated to Ajit Singh Nagar. The first batch of families arrived at the newly-built houses in Ajit Singh Nagar on Wednesday. Before that, the Mayor and Commissioner enquired about their requirements. The State government has sanctioned Rs 125 crore for construction of the retaining wall to check the floodwater into the colonies close to Krishna River. Earlier, Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy laid the foundation for construction of the retaining wall from Varadhi to Koti Nagar to check inundation of colonies. The families were asked to vacate their houses and move to the allotted houses in Ajit Singh Nagar.

The VMC has constructed the houses in Ajit Singh Nagar with all facilities which including the underground drainage network, drinking water pipelines, electricity and roads etc. In all, 524 families will be relocated to the Ajit Singh Nagar in the coming weeks. Vijayawada Sub-Collector Pravin Chand also visited the flood-affected areas and spoke to the people, who are relocated.

The VMC has taken the initiative during the rainy season to shift the flood-affected families to other locations and provide food and shelter for a few days till floodwater recedes from the affected colonies. With the relocation of colonies, the retaining wall construction works will gain momentum.