Visakhapatnam: Though colony gives posh look, a closer peep gives different impression

Visakhapatnam: Formed in 2003, Dwarakapuri VUDA Colony (Phase VII) is now a home for close to 1,500 people. For a long time now, the colony residents have been waiting for a community hall and a well-developed park.

Though there are spaces earmarked for larger and smaller parks in the residential area, only concrete benches were arranged in the bigger park while nothing has been done at the smaller one.

A part of the park was proposed to be developed into a community hall. However, the proposal is yet to take shape. Residents say that they have made several trips to the offices of the officials concerned but in vain.

Sanitation is another area which needs a larger focus in the neighbourhood. Strewn garbage and clogged drains are seen all along the roads. The sight of a herd of pigs and a pack of dogs is quite common in the colony.

Though the neighbourhood gives a posh appearance for a brief moment, it will not last longer. As far as sanitation is concerned, it takes a huge hit in the neighbourhood. "Leave alone sanitation, the colony is even deprived of streetlights. We have been running around the officials for the past six months to resume streetlights but we are yet to get them," says B Rama Rao, secretary of Dwarakapuri VUDA Colony (Phase VII) Residents Welfare Association.

Telecom wires and cable works carried out earlier have left a dent on the roads that were once in a good condition. "The main road of the colony is in a very bad shape. During night hours and rainy season, the stretch becomes all the more challenging to travel along," says S Ramakrishna, president of the RWA.

Along with setting up a community hall and parks, another resident of the colony Gangavaram Gopi says that the focus should be on improving sanitation in the neighbourhood.