Andhra Pradesh - Vijayawada   

Pathapadu team holds talks with Mayor, officials

— PHOTO: RAJU V

Towards accord: Mayor Mallika Begum discussing the proposals for dumping of municipal solid waste in Pathapadu village with representatives of the village, in her chambers in Vijayawada Municipal Corporation office on Wednesday.

VIJAYAWADA: Representatives of Pathapadu panchayat tabled as many as 20 conditions before Mayor Mallika Begum and floor leaders of various political parties in the Vijayawada Municipal Corporation (VMC) at a meeting convened by the VMC on Wednesday to find a solution to the contentious issue of dumping of municipal solid waste.

The VMC representatives accepted 17 conditions, most of which pertained to creation of community utilities like bus shelters, lighting, water supply and the like, but made it clear to the Pathapadu representatives that the demand for dumping the wastes in a site located 5 km away from the village and for not digging pits in Aamudalalanka village would have to be studied in detail before a commitment could be made.

The Mayor and others from the VMC side also said the issue of postponing any possible merger of the village with the VMC till 2011, another crucial demand put forth by the villagers, was not under their purview.

The Pathapadu delegation was led this time by its sarpanch Komaravalli Chinni, unlike last time when it was led by her husband K. Koteswara Rao, who acts as a de facto sarpanch.

But Mr. Koteswara Rao too accompanied the delegation. The impropriety of VMC officials holding talks with an unofficial representative of the village was highlighted in these columns then.

The Pathapadu representatives said they had no objection to allow the dumping of wastes, provided the VMC agreed to implement all their 20 demands and gave in writing the detailed schedule of commencement and completion of each of the works.

The terms and conditions included the scientific disposal of solid waste, testing of groundwater in the village once every three months and publishing the report, cleaning the village roads every day after the dumping, holding responsibility for any road accidents that may take place during transportation of solid wastes, laying of a double road between Payakapuram and Pathapadu with central lighting system, distribution of drinking water to all households through pipelines, laying of cement roads and drainages in the village.

They also demanded that the VMC arrange mercury lighting in the village and take up its maintenance, recruit sanitation staff, construct a community hall, a dispensary, a panchayat office, a library and three parks, construct a compound wall and an open auditorium at tank ground and community ground, construct bus shelters in Pathapadu as well as surrounding villages like Sitarampuram, Venkatapuram and Apparaopet and construct a building for members of women self-help groups.

The floor leaders in the VMC decided to visit the village in the first week of November to finalise an alternative site for filling of wastes and for construction of pits. The issue would later be discussed at length in the general body of the VMC. The representatives of the panchayat would also discuss the agreement in their general body meeting and pass a resolution to pave the way for dumping.

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