VUDA Colony nobody’s baby

Visakhapatnam: Safe drinking water is a far-fetched dream for 74-year old Tirupati Adilaxmi, who is staying in the VUDA (Visakhapatnam Urban Development Authority) Colony, a stone’s throw away from the glitter of the city life.Water supplied by the VUDA is not even fit for household needs, forcing her to spend Rs 25 a day on a can with 20 litres of water.

Highlights:

• Water business flourishing as the colongy is deprived of protected water supply
• Upset with poor conditions in the colony, house owners abandoned the colony and preferred to live elsewhere in the city, leaving their houses to tenants
• A visit by the Hans Team presents an awful sight in the colony with pigs and stray dogs turning the area into their shelter and overflowing open drainage channels producing squalor and stench

Her husband died several years ago and she is dependent on her two sons. “I am struggling hard to keep the wolf from the door. I can’t live without water and I can’t even remain without spending on water”, she said.The VUDA’s reported failure to provide protected water gives a fillip to water business. As the day breaks, scores of vans carrying water cans from the nearby plants stream into the colony located 25 km away under Anakapalli mandal.

A bore well in the colony failed long ago and water supplied by the VUDA through tankers is unsafe for consumption. An overhead tank was built, along with the VUDA Colony in 1996. But, it is filled with dirt and fungus for several months for want of maintenance. The reason is that the alleged failure of the authorities concerned to replace a ladder which was damaged in the Hudhud cyclone.

“The tank is not cleaned since four years”, complains Adilaxmi.”If I shell out Rs 25, I will get a 20-litre can which hardly helps me meet drinking and household needs”, she laments.Of the two hand pumps, one went out of order four years ago and the VUDA authorities turned a blind eye to the complaints of residents for repairs, according to Santosh, a cell phone dealer. There are piggery farms nearby Krishnapatnam which is a source of living for Yerukala community.

Deepu, a Chartered Accountancy student, emphasised the need for regulating the piggery farming, while appealing to the VUDA authorities to build a compound wall around the colony so as to insulate the residents from the menace of pigs and stray dogs.Upset with poor conditions in the colony, house owners abandoned the colony and preferred to live elsewhere in the city, leaving their houses to tenants, who include transport and migrant workers.

A visit by the Hans Team presents an awful sight in the colony with pigs and stray dogs turning the area into their shelter and overflowing open drainage channels producing squalor and stench. The pell-mell conditions are exposing people to serious public health hazards.Initially, the colony was developed by VUDA and later it was brought under the purview of local Satyanarayanapuram gram panchayat.

Since then the fate of the colony turned from bad to worse as it was subjected to an utter neglect by the official machinery. The colony remains out of reach for administration and mainstream life, except for the politicos at the time of elections, says Srinivas, an ex-employee of a sugar factory.

By Phani Suni