Rain water blocks roads, residential areas in Bhimavaram

Bhimavaram: Rain water is flowing onto internal roads linked to National Highway No 165 in Veeravasaram village causing lot of inconvenience to people. 

With no provision to drain out the stagnated water, pools of water had been turning into mosquito breeding places. The village has 2 kms stretch of the highway and almost all localities on two sides of the highway have been facing same problem.

The village with a population of 20,000 lacked proper drainage system. The rain water just inundates the roads and residential areas causing troubles to vehicle riders and pedestrians. Malakodu drain which is supposed to carry drain water into Gonteru drain.

The problem intensifies when it rains heavily during monsoon. The Malakodu drain was occupied by the encroachers. In addition to this problem, six culverts were plugged when main road was upgraded as National Highway two decades ago. Since then, rain water flows onto internal roads and residential colonies.

The problem persisted for several years without a solution even though people approached their representatives.

When contacted, Panchayat secretary JVD Prasad informed that two years ago the governing council had decided to develop the Malakodu drain. A sum of Rs 70 lakh was earmarked for the development of drain. However, because of technical reasons, the works remained unattended.

The secretary said that he would talk to governing council for removal of encroachments on the drain. He also promised to bring to the notice of the National Highway authorities for restoration of blocked culverts.