The work on a culvert close to the Saibaba Temple in Eedepalli area of district headquarter town Machilipatnam in Krishna district has been pending for the past several months and people have been suffering for over a year now due to various reasons.
The locals complain about its utility as its design is being questioned. Vehicles were plying on bare iron rods put in place for laying a slab over the newly constructed drain retaining walls. Some tyres were getting punctured. Mounds of soil were lying here and there blocking the free flow of traffic. Some residents told The Hindu that even after its completion, the flow of the water in the drains would not be proper and it was not being scientifically built. When contacted the Municipal Commissioner Sivaramakrishna said that when he assumed office in the town, this culvert was designed and works grounded.
A survey was done of all the drain works and other civil works and some suggestions were given, he observed. All the new ones were built as per the norms, he added. The Municipal Commissioner said that at the District Court Centre the work was taken up recently and was being done in a scientific manner.
Defects were pointed out to the Public Health Department and the Executive Engineer had promised to rectify it through the contractors. When approached over phone for finding out the reasons for the delay in execution of the works, the Public Health Executive Engineer A. Sudhakar said that there was no sand for the past three months, which had stalled all works in the town and this was one among them. This was only a temporary phase and delay. “We will very soon overcome this and today I have written to the Joint Collector to allocate sand from the two reaches at Vedadri and Vallurivaripalem or give temporary permission to get sand from local reaches so that works could be taken up,” he said and hoped that a solution would be found out very soon.
When the Public Health Department approached the Mines and Geology Dept for 60,000 Cubic Meters that the department requires for completing all the works they asked them to get the Joint Collector’s approval.
