It was another day of heavy downpour that the city experienced on Monday along with the usual nightmare of water-logged roads and streets, inundation of localities and vehicle users having a harrowing time reaching their destinations.
Along with familiar places like Moghalrajapuram and parts of One Town, the 100-ft road of Autonagar once again proved to be vulnerable to rain. The open drains on either side of the road began overflowing on Monday too, as it happens after every good rain. Local shopkeepers said that the silt that accumulated in the drains had not been removed for several days. Also, the poor drainage and faulty sewerage were primarily responsible for the situation.
They resented the sorry state of affairs in the 270-acre industrial area, which comes under the jurisdiction of the Industrial Area Local Authority (IALA) of the Andhra Pradesh Industrial Infrastructure Corporation (APIIC). For, even a minor rain exposes the failure of the administration in dealing with the drainage system.
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IALA chairman Yadma Veeraiah said that the “alignment disputes” with the Vijayawada Municipal Corporation was a major hurdle to the construction of a connecting drain to the Guntatippa major drain. Without an elected body until now, the APIIC had failed to improve amenities in the industrial area, he said. “We hope that in the coming days all the pending works will be completed under the supervision of the IALA elected body,” he said.
APIIC Zonal Manager B. Satyanarayana said that the coordination with the VMC was a problem so far, but a resurvey will be taken up to identify the proper land for the construction of Guntatippa drain.
Nearly 30 workers were added to the existing strength of 60-odd workers to take up different works, including garbage cleaning and for mosquito prevention measures. Tenders were finalised for laying of roads in the area at an estimated cost of Rs.1.85 crore. Only the works remained to be executed, he said.
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