Visakhapatnam: Roads, sanitation in bad shape

Visakhapatnam: Two-decade-old Sri Siva Gayathri Nagar near Papayyarajupalem is deprived of basic amenities even now. Though houses started developing from 2005, the colony does not have a proper CC road or BT road. Uneven kaccha paths dot the neighbourhood. For those who commute along these stretches, it is a back-breaking bumpy ride.

In addition, roads that were dug up for UGD works years ago were not covered properly. However, after making repeated representations to the officials concerned, patchworks were carried out in some of the lanes.

For long, the members of Sri Siva Gayathri Nagar Welfare Association appealed to the authorities concerned to set up a community hall and a park. Since no action was taken, the members of the association teamed up to build a community hall. "Though a site was proposed for setting up a park in the neighbourhood when M Hari Narayanan was the Commissioner of the GVMC, the proposal has not moved further," says Ch Appa Rao, president of the RWA.

Uncleared garbage, drains and weeds grown on the streets mirror the sanitation maintenance in the colony. Owing to which, the colony residents say that they are susceptible to mosquito-borne diseases such as malaria and dengue. "Despite paying taxes, development in the colony takes a back seat. We long for clean environs here and even that seems to be disappointing," says K Satyam, joint secretary of the residents' welfare association.

For long, the colony people have been putting up a fight to improve sanitation maintenance in the locality and hope that it will become a reality soon.