There are many versions about how Guntur got its name. Folklore has it that Guntur is derived from the word "kunta", one-third of an acre, or sound — "gundu", when ancient kings used to blast a cannonball to signal time; but these days, Guntur is becoming synonymous with "guntalu", potholes.
If the dug up roads in main thoroughfares of the city owing to the ongoing Under Ground Drainage works have tested the patience of the citizens for over two years, the incessant rainfall over the last four months has worsened the situation.
Novel protest
With the condition of roads getting worse, the opposition Telugu Desam Party got into the act. Member of Parliament Galla Jayadev on Wednesday led a novel protest in which party
supporters were seen pushing autos, motorcycles stuck in the slush. In Vidya Nagar, residents came together to pool in money to carry out repairs.
The city has a road network of over 1,800 km, and there are some roads maintained by the Roads and Buildings Department. Among the major roads maintained by the R&B Department are, Ponnur Road, Nandivelugu Road and Amaravathi Road, while GMC maintains most of the roads.
Delay in UGD works
The condition of roads has always remained a concern in the past, but what has compounded the problem is the delay in grounding of the Underground Drainage Sewerage scheme. Granted as a one-time financial assistance scheme from the Union Ministry of Urban Development, the ₹903.82-crore scheme is one of the biggest ever grants to any urban local body in the State. By March 2015, the Centre fulfilled its commitment of allocating ₹540 crore.
After months of dilly-dallying, the then TDP government finally zeroed in on Shapoorji and Pallonji Construction, who had already been involved in the construction of Government Interim Complex at Velagapudi. The company was given the contract under EPC mode in September 2016 with a deadline to complete the project within 36 months.
The works began in January 2017. The city was divided into five zones and it was estimated that pipelines extending up to 1,083 km would be required to be laid covering 1.4 lakh households. The UGD project has essentially five components beginning with house service connections, pipelines through which sewage is collected. The inspection chambers and the manholes make up for the rest of the project.
Official intervention
The Public Health Department, which was entrusted with the task of monitoring the project, reportedly failed to monitor the project, prompting the intervention of then Collector and Special Officer.
With the deadline ending in August , the UGD works still remain in limbo. With just 50 per cent of work completed in main components such as pipeline, manholes, inspection chambers and road restoration, the project looks far from complete.
"The condition of the roads had deteriorated so badly that even my car got stuck and we had to call for help. Many vehicles got damaged and the road condition has led to a lot of traffic snarls," said MLC K.S. Lakshmana Rao, a resident of Syamala Nagar.
Taking a serious note of the laxity, Collector and Special Officer, GMC, I. Samuel Ananda Kumar has ordered the engineering wing of the GMC to come up work estimates of road works. In a review meeting held with GMC engineering wing, the Collector asked the engineering department to prepare work estimates of all pending works wardwise and submit them within two days.
