A cacophony of noises rent the air as commuters zip through this busy junction from morning till night.
What was a spread of mango groves and coconut trees has been transformed into a commercial hub with hardly any trace of its origin.
For several years now, a combination of businessmen and residents live in perfect harmony in Dwarakanagar. With a number of showrooms, restaurants, theatres, coaching centres, schools, and colleges, apart from the Diamond Park surrounding the colony, residents say that every commodity, from garments to electronic appliances, is hardly a few steps away from the place.
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In 1951, the area was under Visakhapatnam Cooperative House Building Society. Apparently, after a few years, the society got the approval from the government to form the layout. Several employees from different sectors purchased plots from the society and constructed their apartments in the region.
“There were very few independent houses with pucca roads then. All the six lanes are parallel to each other with Shankar Matham Road being the popular landmark of the colony,” says Akella Venkata Purushotham, one of the old residents of the colony. Out of the six lanes in Dwarakanagar, the first three are occupied by commercial complexes, consisting of a mix of retail outlets and plywood shops dotting the lanes.
The rest of the lanes are semi-commercial as half of the floors are occupied by both businessmen and residents. The Marwaris and Telugu people, who have been living here since generations, find the neighbourhood quite convenient. Here, it is difficult to locate independent houses.
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“Although the locality is a proportion of 70 per cent (commercial) and 30 per cent (residential), we enjoy living in the heart of the city. The railway station is two-and-a-half km away whereas the RTC complex is hardly one-km drive from here,” says K. Sridhar, who has been living in the colony for the past two decades. However, he says, there are no proper signboards in place to direct the visitors.
The colony does not have any association or committee as such. However, festivals such as Vinayaka Chavithi, Sivaratri, and Dasara unite the people.