No money for development

Maheshwaram is a constituency where development works begin but, things are halted because of “financial troubles of the GHMC”

Constituency: Maheshwaram
Voters’ profile: The constituency has only two divisions which have a total 1.26 lakh voters viz. Saroor Nagar with 62,180 voters and Ramakrishna (RK) Puram with 64,604 voters

The lack of concern of the ex Corporators during their course of time in Maheshawarm constituency has left the municipal properties in a pitiable condition. In many places the parks, skill development centre, graveyard, night shelters are unattended. Locals complained that the officials have kept a blind eye on their problems after the Corporator body dissolved.

Poor amenities in night shelter
The night shelter, housing about 40 women in Saroor Nagar does not have basic facilities. A women staying in the night shelter said that the shelter home has no water supply connection. “We have to beg for water from the nearby houses,” she wailed.

Food for the homeless women is another problem. The women in the night shelter complained that though the other areas are running with ‘GHMC Rs 5 meal’ there is no such centre in their area.However the local officials in ward office said that they are working to provide all the facilities. “Recnetly electricity lines were repaired there. More developments are underway,” he said.

Parks neglected
Due to poor maintained parks in Saroor Nagar many residents stopped visiting these parks. The parks in HUDA colony are covered in weeds and wild shrubs due to lack of concern by the authorities. A resident, Kamal Singh said that the residents have started dumping garbage in the park. “Children play on the roads instead of the park due to such condition of the parks,” he said.

Delayed works of Community Hall
Despite the foundation stone laid for the Community Hall in 2014 in Alkapuri Colony, the works have not been completed so far. A resident near the Alkapur Park, Anjali said that the works are going very slowly. “They took two long years just to construct a basement,” she said.

The locals said that they had also requested for a library in their area, which has not been responded.
Local ex-Corporator informed that due to some financial hurdle with the Corporation, the works have been halted.

Dog menace
Complaints over dog menace in Lingojiguda are in a large number. The locals said that municipal officials, who visited their area, never took care to get the street dogs vaccinated or make arrangements to evacuate the beasts.

A college graduate and resident, Naveen Kumar said that they are nearly 10 stray dogs in their small colony. “We have never seen municipal officials coming for the dogs here,” he said. Another resident and a senior citizen, Sridhar said that due to lack of awareness among the residents and lack of concern of ex-Coporators the dog menace issue has never been solved.

Open nala, a threat
The residents in Dharmapuri Colony are facing the unbearable stench of the nala passing from their colony from the last four years. Though the previous Corporator promised the residents that he would construct a slab over the nala, no works were been initiated.

Incidents have been reported where children fell into the nala. A grocery shop owner and resident, Krishna said, “At least, a fence should be made on priority quickly.” Similar complaints have been found from residents over open nalas in the nearby colonies.

Unclean job by sanitation staff
The sanitation workers in Saroor Nagar and RK puram have been found burning the garbage wastes on road openly. A private sanitation worker at the site said that they are allowed to burn the waste. However, burning of garbage in the public areas is considered as an offence by the municipal rule book. When contacted, the Corporator was found clueless about the problem.

Faded beauty on medians
The municipal authorities had planted many flowering plants and small trees on the medians of the main road to give an aesthetic appeal to the road but, have not taken care of the plants after plantation. With the lack of landscape and gardening design, many trees have grown into wild shrubs with weeds all around.

The municipal officials said that since the plants were planted by the HMR they are supposed to take care of it. “We are not taking care of those plants,” they said.

Miscellaneous issues
The complaints over colony roads, non-functioning of streetlights, low water supply and poor responses of the officials were found in large numbers. Though the main roads and connecting roads were in good condition, many of the colonies have been found with no roads.

The service roads in the areas have potholes which needs quick municipal attention. When HANS contacted local ex-Corporators they said that they have done “enough development activities” in their divisions.