Except a few apartments, Seethammadhara North Extension area abutting the 60 Feet Road continues to charm one with huge independent houses built tastefully.
For a moment, the colony impresses one with its tranquillity and gentle breeze sweeping through the trees where majority of residents are settled for the last few decades. But a closer look gives a different picture.
The area was like a forest with three to four houses scattered around some three decades earlier. Employees who were working in different government departments and private companies built their homes and many shifted here only after retirement. Some of the occupants modified the existing houses after a few years. The area consists of approximately half a dozen lanes spread from Kshatriya Kalyana Mandapam to Tamil Kalai Mandram of Seethammadhara. For V. Kameswaramma, an elderly lady who has been living in the colony for the last three decades, the place has gone through a sea-change.
“There were no roads and drainage facilities earlier. Though the condition has improved over the years, garbage management is something that needs attention,” she says.
With the colony located near the hill, residents often find it tough to travel to other parts of the city and procure groceries and other daily requirements. Except for the 20A bus service, one should either have their own vehicles or depend on autos to commute.
“Autos charge handsomely as our area is located near the hill,” says G. N. Appa Rao, a resident of the colony for the last 15 years. Beside his residence, high-tension wires hanging haphazardly against the electrical pole pose a threat.
“Despite our repeated requests made to the authorities of the Electricity Department to cover the high tension wires with protection pipes, nothing has been done so far,” he said.
Some of the residents complained about the foul smell that emanates due to the dumping of garbage that continues to heap for days in front of their houses while a few also expressed their apprehension about the increasing constructions towards the hill apart from creeping encroachments.
