VISAKHAPATNAM: It's an ironic situation. Though the Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation has funds ready for construction of two storm water drains costing more than Rs. 12 crores for the past six months, there are no takers for the works. With the monsoon about to set in, it remains a difficult task to carry out now.

The two drains are Yerrigedda that runs through a major portion of the city and enters the port area, and SL Canal in the I Town area. In September and October 2005, the Gnanapuram area got flooded by an overflowing Yerrigedda drain owing to torrential rain. In 2006 too, water entered some localities.

To prevent the flooding, the GVMC prepared a regularisation plan. The plan envisages widening the drains and deepening them and creating a concrete bed so as to enable machines to remove the silt and trucks to lift them. The Yerrigedda canal work is proposed at a cost of Rs. 9.21 crores and the SL Canal at Rs. 3.39 crores.

The two are among the first works cleared under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission. But the nature of the work as well as the prevailing demand for contractor is preventing finalisation of the bids. Till now, tenders have been called half a dozen times in as many months. After lack of response, the Yerrigedda work has been split into five packages and the SL canal work into two packages, according to officials. As the Yerrigedda drain flows regularly, it has to be silted manually and the de-silted material cleared by headloads. Since the flow cannot be totally stopped, work has to be taken up on one part of the drain at a time. But even the relaxed conditions are not attracting contractors largely due to the ongoing irrigation works costing thousands of crores of rupees in the State. With time running out, the officials are now thinking of further relaxing conditions and take steps to facilitate the work.

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