Hyderabad: Plethora of issues for new corporator-elect says Banoth Sujatha

A homemaker and Commerce graduate, Banoth Sujatha has been elected from the Hasthinapuram, the 16 municipal division, in the recently held GHMC elections. It took little time for the first-time elected corporator to know the workings of the civic body and the issues are in store for here ahead.

That, the sanitation staff has not turned out for three days to lift the household waste. As the sanitation staff are irregular in attending to their dutues, Sujatha who watched the situation for five days, is gearing up to make the civic staff work properly in the days to come.

Shifting of residents of Roshan-ud-Daula Colony remains a major issue. The colony is located abutting the compound wall of the DRDL, a defence establishment in Kanchan Bagh. Add to this, there are complaints from the residents of Nandanavanam. One of the biggest slums. Both the Roshan-ud-Daula and Nandanavam are slum areas. Earlier, houses were allocated to the poor in Nandanavanam. The present State government has taken up construction of double bedroom housing scheme for the people.

However, there are complaints galore about the selection of beneficiaries and lack of transparency. Real eligible persons are denied allotment of houses, she understands.

With as many as 104 colonies, Hastinapuram division has a mixed population of about 80,000, living in slums, middle class areas and posh residential colonies. Slum areas such as Bhupeshnagar, Subhash Chandra Bose Nagar, Pochamma Gedda, Nandanavaram etc have a different kind of problems: Lack of housing, proper drinking water and drainage facilities.

Further, the recent unseasonal rains exposed the vulnerabilities of several colonies inundated in the floodwaters.

Sujatha says that, first, she would take stock of the issues being faced by the residents in different areas. She would take up their issues with the authorities concerned and strive to find solutions on a priority basis.