Flooding leaves residents fuming

Even as the Vijayawada Municipal Corporation (VMC) had come up with an extensive plan to take up de-silting of drains during the monsoon to prevent flooding, there was hardly any respite for people as they were forced to wade through knee-deep stagnated rainwater in several parts of the city as incessant rain continued to lash the city since on Wednesday morning.

As many as 30 major and 200 minor drains had been identified for de-silting and over 200 workers deployed for the purpose involving an expenditure of over Rs.1 crore. But it was the same old story -- overflowing drains and stagnation -- at Pinnamaneni Polyclinic, Moghalrajpuram and Autonagar among other areas putting the pedestrians and motorists to inconvenience.

“The municipal officials claimed that they had completed de-silting but the ground reality is different with overflowing drains,” said a K. Sashikanth, a local resident. While motorists were fuming at the officials, the latter claimed that the corporation was leaving no stone unturned to improve the situation.

“Residents near Nizam Gate and Gandhi Hill in One Town, Singhnagar and Jakkampudi used to face problems during monsoon but this time we have taken steps on a war-footing and addressed the issue,” a senior VMC official said adding that the corporation had sufficient funds to deal with sanitation problem.

“We have completed de-silting of drains spanning 337 km and works on remaining 120 km are on,” the official added.

Departmental action

While inspecting works on Saturday, VMC Commissioner G. Veerapandian warned that departmental action would be taken against derelict officials.

He directed the Public Health officials to temporarily suspend the services of a sanitary inspector for negligence.

Mr. Veerapandian expressed anger over indiscriminate dumping of garbage on the road at Ramalingeswaranagar, Gulzar bridge and Yard roads.

VMC’s claims on de-silting of drains not reflective of ground realities in many parts of the city