More than two-decade-old KRM colony with a population of 10,000 residents looks green and moderately clean with a mix of educated and affluent class including serving and retired government officials and also the economically weaker sections. It falls in the GVMC ward No.10 and under the jurisdiction of zone-2 commissioner.
The colony layout was formed more than two decades ago and the present plot owners bought the 500 square yards plot just for Rs. 30,000. The same plot today fetches more than Rs.30 lakh. The colony originally had independent houses with large front and backyards with greenery dotting the entire colony. Nearly three decades ago the colony, which is part of Seethammadhara, was scarcely populated. The area started developing with migrants from neighbouring Godavari districts purchasing pockets of land. Employment opportunities in steel plant brought people from all over the State and helped in the emergence of the new city, said local resident Ram Ravi Shanker.
Madhavi recalls the colony used to have a family atmosphere until two decades ago. The residents lived like a close-knit family with people having time to interact, to make friends and even for socialising. The local residents used to meet often for one occasion or the other though they were multiple small gatherings. Occasions like festivals, poojas, birthday and marriage functions and even deaths brought the men and women and the young ones together.
Local residents said with the changing demography of the colony and the dawn of the apartment culture, the colony had over the years grown vertically. The busy schedules of people and hundreds of new tenants to the apartments made the once cozy colony a foreign domain. Several owners surrendered their houses for group housing and the colony today is a mix of the old owners and hundreds of tenants of apartment complexes. At one time the residents could be easily identified but now with hundreds of apartment dwellers nobody really knows who is who.
KRM Colony Residents Welfare Association secretary G. Hanumantha Rao said despite the fading independent houses culture still there remained some independent houses of old, whose owners were reluctant to sell their independence. The colony has a very large and well developed park which is the pride and symbol of their unity. The lone park in the colony has a massive space for plantation and a walking track. Every morning and evening men, women and the youth come for a walk. The park is well maintained by the association committee.
The residents are happy with the basic amenities, including GVMC supplied water, underground drainage and street lighting. In the evenings the park is a meeting point every day for the retired employees. However, most of the residents are old couples and a lonely lot with their children going away to far off places for jobs and migration.
KRM Colony has two people’s representatives who made the colony their home. Visakha West MLA Malla Vijaya Prasad and Bheemunipatnam MLA M.Sreenivasa Rao are the VIP residents. Hundreds of visitors meeting the two Congress MLAs is a common sight every day. Infant Jesus Shrine chuch and Sri Venkateswara Swamy temple in the colony are visited by hundreds of devotees from far and near. There is three decades old AMG Hospital which caters to the poorer sections and the middle class.
Association Treasurer P.Narayana Murthy said the park was handed over to them a decade ago by the then commissioner N. Srikanth. The park was given an award for best maintenance by the GVMC.
