Madhavadhara VUDA Layout is bound by Kalinga Nagar (Madhavadhara) on the east, KSR Green Valley on the west, Simhachalam hill range on the north and partly by the National Highway and partly by Bheem Nagar on the south. Developed during the mid-1980s as a residential colony, the layout consists of LIG, MIG and HIG houses in three phases: I, II and extended area. The wide roads and trees on either side of the roads in the colony present a pleasing sight to any visitor. While the highway junction, which is about half-a-kilometre from the far end of the colony is well connected by RTC buses to various parts of the city, the central area in the colony is also connected by RTC buses (48 A) from the Port and Old Town side.
There are four parks – East, North, Central and South Parks – in the colony and a site earmarked for a fifth park is yet to be developed. There is a community hall for performance of weddings and public functions.
The self-sufficient colony, developed in an extent of 61 acres, has a good number of government offices like the Roads and Buildings Office, Geological Survey of India, Office of the Regional Transport Authority, Office of the Assistant Commissioner of Police (North), Traffic Police Station (V Town), AP Pollution Control Board, banks, ATMs and an e-seva centre among other things.
“I was allotted a plot in the colony during 1983-84. There were hardly any houses at that time. During the tenure of T. Suryanarayana Reddy as the VUDA Chairman, the Madhavadhara VUDA Colony Residents Welfare Association (RWA) leaders approached him for development of the vacant side on the east as a community hall,” recalls RWA president K. Pattabhiramayya.
“Some of the members wanted the community hall to be developed at a central place and the proposal fizzled out. Subsequently, when M.V.V.S. Murthy was MP and S.A. Rehaman was Chairman of VUDA, the community hall proposal was passed and it was constructed at its present location in Phase-II. The East Park was later developed on the vacant site on the east side by the GVMC,” he said.
The RWA had initially appointed 30 workers for cleaning of the drains and lifting of garbage in the colony and used to supervise their day-to-day functioning. But later, the GVMC took over their control and now the workers clean the drain once in four or five days instead of doing it daily and garbage collection is also irregular.
This apart, the colony has a few major geddas that need to be cleared on a regular basis and failure to do so has been resulting in foul smell emanating from them and spreading all over the place.“The community hall has been developed with funds generated from the residents for common use. It is being run without any profit motive as the rent charged is very nominal for outsiders and around 50 per cent concession is given to the residents. But now the Central Excise Department has sent us (the association) a notice seeking payment of ‘Service Tax’, which is ‘very unfair’ on their part,” says Mr. Pattabhiramayya.
