Being located in one of the prime areas of the city is taking a toll on the residential colony of Sanjiva Reddy Nagar. The colony’s footpaths are being encroached upon by tea stalls, food carts, pan shops and religious structures.
“The footpaths are being lost to illegal commercial establishments. This was not the scenario a few years ago,” says K. Hanumanth Rao, vice-president of S.R. Nagar Welfare Association.
A part of the compound wall of the Government Homeopathy clinic near S.R. Nagar Police Station is damaged and the complex is now being used as a garbage dump and public toilet. Construction material is sold on the footpath abutting the compound wall of the clinic and the material is stored in the hospital complex.
S.R. Nagar was developed by the A.P. Housing Board in the sixties and was named after former President of India, Neelam Sanjiva Reddy. The colony is divided into three different parts depending on the plot areas and consists of around 1,000 houses, of which almost 127 are independent houses. Nearly 3,500 families have made S.R. Nagar their home.
The colony boasts of having around five small playgrounds, including a municipal playground with swimming pool, a few parks and many educational institutions, which exist in and around the colony.
Most of the residents of this colony are well educated and this colony is a home to many retired and working government officials.
“We used funds available with the welfare association and constructed a reading hall beside a library in the colony. We also constructed a jogging track in the park with our funds,” says J.S. Babu Rao, president of the S.R. Nagar Welfare Association.
Parts of the colony which are either near the main road or the playgrounds face an acute situation. The footpaths in these areas are reduced into public toilets by people as there is only one public toilet in the colony located near S.R. Nagar bus stop on the main road.
Then there is the defacement problem. Replete with training institutes, the area is an educational hub for many students. Given the competition among the institutes, managements try to outsmart each other in promoting their organisations, and as a result, the walls and other public property have been defaced with posters and other paraphernalia.
“As there are many technical training institutes nearby S.R. Nagar, walls in the colony are covered with posters and banners are tied across many streets,” laments K. Hanumanth Rao.
