A serene and green colony about four decades ago, TPT Colony has transformed into a bustling mix of residential and commercial area.
The main thoroughfares of the colony abound with shops selling a wide range of goods, hospitals, schools, and a good number of media offices — both print and electronic — a Rythu Bazaar, a few government offices, banks and ATMs.
The colony is self-sufficient and residents need not go far for their day-to-day needs.
The establishment of Satyam (now Tech Mahindra) and WIPRO close to the colony about a decade ago led to a steep increase in house rentals and a corresponding increase in the cost of living.
The vertical expansion, which began a couple of decades ago, led to most of the independent houses in the colony giving way for apartment complexes and high-rise buildings.
This has led to loss of greenery.
“The colony was formed in 1965 and we moved into it in 1967. There were around 100 independent houses in those days. Electricity and water supply connections came much later. The then Town Planning Trust (TPT) Chairman, Gurumurthy Reddy, had taken special care in not only ensuring the laying of roads and construction of drains but also providing amenities like cooking gas connections, which was very tough to get in those days,” recalls D. Siva Prasad, a professor and retired faculty member in Sanskrit of Andhra University.
“There used to be only one private bus (route No.11) in those days. The last bus used to be at around 10 p.m. Those who missed the bus had to depend on cycle rickshaws as there were no autorickshaws in those days. The bus used to go up to Seetammadhara hill (which had a natural water spring), which was a picnic spot in those days. During the early 1960s, we had to depend on bullock carts to reach up to the hill slopes with our luggage to go to Seetammadhara for picnic,” he recalls.
“A part of the layout was acquired by the Posts and Telegraphs (P&T) Department and the P&T Colony was developed in that area. The building in which the office of the Telugu daily ‘Eenadu’ was located till recently was originally a film studio. After the studio was closed, the Government Polytechnic used to run from the premises for sometime,” recalls Prof. Prasad.
