Streetlights, overflowing drains, most reported civic problems

Half the problems reported were from four districts

Non-functioning streetlights across the urban local bodies (ULBs) have turned out to be the most annoying issue for the city dwellers. A majority of the grievances reported to the local bodies through call centres or directly to the municipal administration department using the integrated web portal and the mobile application were about them.

According to the reports on the Municipal Administration Grievance Dashboard, the department received 63,273 complaints from the ULBs in the 13 districts from January 1 to Wednesday (August 2) and 96% of the complaints had been solved. Of the grievances reported in the last seven months, 11,585 were about streetlights. Most of the traditional streetlights had been replaced with LED bulbs across the State as part of the energy saving initiative.

Poor drainage system, dumping of debris and garbage on public places also turned troublesome for the public. About 9,000 complaints each had been reported during the last seven months. Regarding garbage, 5,129 complaints were made. Next on the list were poor drinking water, the absence of sanitation staff and overflowing underground drainages.

The reports revealed that half the problems reported were from just four districts — East Godavari, Kadapa, Kurnool and West Godavari — indicating that most of the problems were occurring at the ULBs other than municipal corporations. In East Godavari alone, 10,098 complaints had been reported so far this year.

In the last one month, the majority of the 8,467 complaints were over streetlights followed by open drains, UGD and drinking water. However, only 81% of the complaints had been resolved so far. On Wednesday, about 171 complaints had been received.