The residential area of Gnanapuram is under a cloud of chemical dust with dump yards of the port and several industries surrounding the ancient township.
Hundreds of school and college students are exposed to hazardous pollution. A lot of public space in the locality is under encroachments. Narrow roads and lanes became narrower as a result. The main roads have been reduced to permanent vehicle parking slots. Parking of autorickshaws at school zones is regularly blocking entry to schools and residential areas.
Many residents say that Gnanapuram is an unplanned zigzag township resembling a slum with hundreds of houses crammed together amid congested and narrow lanes.
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Surroundings and streets are unclean with piled up garbage. The 40-ft road in the Post Office Street is under encroachment by vested interests.
Former corporator Y. Fatima Rani is urging the Commissioner of Police to depute a constable to regulate the traffic, particularly the autorickshaws near the railway station on the Rakshanagiri Road, as it is a problem locals are facing every day.
Half acre of public land is under encroachment at Babu Colony, where the AP Housing Corporation built a weaker section colony under the JNNURM. Despite the presence of zonal office, encroachers are having a field day in their activity.
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The local people are also urging the GVMC to complete the burial ground work left incomplete for the benefit of the local residents. Most of the local residents are seeking the visit of the Commissioner M.V. Satyanarayana to see for himself the woes of the residents.