Office-bearers of the Vijayawada Notified Municipal Corporation Industrial Areas Service Society have appealed to district Collector S.A.M. Rizvi to take immediate steps for removal of encroachments on roads in Autonagar and Industrial area limits.
In a letter addressed to the Collector, chairman of the society Y. Veeraiah and secretary P. Prasad Rao, said that almost a decade ago in 2003, a few families encroached upon road margins when the Autonagar and Industrial Area were under the control of the Vijayawada Municipal Corporation (VMC).
They raised thatched roofs and most of them eked out a living either as rag-pickers or by opening small shops of recycled material.
Their shanties along the road occupied a part of the path, contributing to an increase in the number of road accidents. The side drains have been reduced to open air loos with people using the place for passing urine and even defecating.
The place, emanating an unbearable stench, has turned into a breeding ground for mosquitoes posing grave health hazard to the scores of workers exposed to the unhygienic co nditions in the vicinity. Based on the VMC enumeration, the Industrial Area Local Authority (IALA) granted funds, Rs.10,000 to each of the 196 encroachers under the JNNURM for provision of an alternative house site.
Compensation
They said that the VMC paid compensation to only 128 families who vacated the place while the remaining 68 families continued to stay put where they were. The Society members said that the VMC must pay the amount to the remaining families to pave the way for their exit from the place. Pointing out that in the past few years, an additional 200 shanties had surfaced in the Autonagar area, they said that the VMC must do the needful and settle the matter at the earliest.
