All parties raise a stink

Hyderabad: The Municipal Administration and Urban Development Minister P Narayana found himself at the receiving end when members of both TDP and YSRCP targeted his department during the Question Hour in the State Assembly here on Tuesday.

• Complaining over construction of drainages in ULBs, members demanded government to take immediate steps
• R Siva Prasada Reddy (YSRCP) said that lack of a drainage resulted in acute sanitation problem in Poddutur
• Tenali MLA Rajendra Prasad said that though about Rs 168cr was sanctioned, works were not taken up to address the issue

Complaining over low quality works and construction of drainages in the Urban Local Bodies (ULBs), the members demanded the government take immediate steps to address the problems. Raising the issue during the Question Hour in the State Assembly, MLA V Prabhakar Chowdary (TDP) demanded review of works involving third party evaluation.

Expressing serious doubts over quality of the works like roads, drainages which were showing signs of poor quality, another ruling party member and Tenali MLA Rajendra Prasad pointed out that the process of tendering municipal works was taken for about 10 to 12 months to come to the execution stage.

Expressing dissatisfaction over third party quality evaluators, he asked the government to explore the option of setting up a separate Central Quality Control Cell (CQCC), besides deploying a similar mechanism at local level, to avoid delays and to maintain execution of qualitative works.

Raising the underground drainage issue at Prodduturu, R Siva Prasada Reddy (YSRCP) said that lack of a drainage system resulted in acute sanitation problem in the town. This resulted in mosquito menace which had claimed 15 lives last year, he said.

He also said underground drainage work taken up at a cost of Rs 37 crore during the tenure of the then CM Y S Rajasekhara Reddy came to a grinding halt. Citing a similar issue, Guntur MLA M Venugopala Reddy (TDP) sought the reasons for the delay in calling tenders for the proposed underground drainage system even after the Centre released Rs 903 crore.

Vinukonda MLA G V Anjaneyulu (TDP) wanted the government to release special funds for small ULBs like Vinukonda in the State. Tenali MLA Rajendra Prasad said that though about Rs 168 crore was sanctioned, earlier works were not taken up to address the issue of three drainage channels passing through the town.

Because of this, the sewage water is getting mixed up with drinking and irrigation canals, it’s also contaminating the water bodies in the villages located in the downstream of these channels which provide drinking water for people there, he added. Rajamahendravaram rural MLA G Buchaiah Chowdary (TDP) asked the government to address the long-pending issues of Nalla Channel and Ava Channel works as the sewage water is being discharged in the upstream of River Godavari.

Taking aback by members cutting across the party lines targeting his department, Minister Narayana said that a proposal to construct an underground drainage in Prodduturu at an estimated cost of Rs 120 crore was submitted in the Centre. However, the same was rejected. But, earlier in united AP, the State government had released about Rs 23 crore but the contractor left the works midway after executing works for about 7.23 kms.

The government is contemplating to prepare a Detailed Project Report (DPR) to get Central funding for executing the project, he added. Similarly, steps are on to add another treatment plant in Rajamahendravaram to treat the municipal sewage water before letting it out in River Godavari, he clarified.

He also clarified that tenders for the underground drainage in Guntur were already floated. To address the issues Tenali Municipal Corporation, the government is taking steps to prepare a DPR to take up the works, he clarified.