Security, a major concern

Chain snatching and burglary are increasing by the day, yet Corporators are unwilling to make any arrangements for security

Constituency: Khairatabad
Voters’ profile :There are nearly 2.19 voters in the seven divisionsviz. Himayatnagar with 36,756 voters, Barkatpura with 27,140 voters, Khairatabad with 27,549 voters, Panjagutta with 33,584 voters, Somajigudawith 23,337 voters, Banjara Hills with 58,047 voters and Srinagar Colony.

The lack of civic facilities in the seven divisions of the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) Khairatabad Constituency, especially rampant threats to security is a major cause of concern for the people.

Security issues
Several requests pertaining to security issues have also been filed by the locals across the constituency. According to the locals, chain snatching and burglary cases all over the divisions are increasing by the day.

An employee from the security services in Journalist Colony, Sunder said, “The Corporation had told that it would fix CCTV cameras in the burglary prone areas but, they have not done it from long time.”
When contacted, Corporators of Panjagutta, Somajiguda, Banjara Hills and JublieeHilss for their action on the security issues, they refused to talk.

Poor roads
Many roads in the interiors of the Himayatnagar division are in terrible condition. The stretch between the Himayatnagar main road and the Indira Park via Ashok Nagar is one of the most terrible roads in the division.

A local from street number 12, Suresh Kumar said that their colony members have requested the local Corporator many times to lay the road such that it would not get any damage for at least a year or two. A similar situation is seen with many areas in Barkatpura.

When contacted, the former Coporators of Himayatnagar and Barkatpura mutually said that they had spent majority of the funds received by the Corporation on the development of roads in their area. However, on questioning the Corporatorswere found unaware about any major road development project supervised by them in their area.

Sanitation related grievances
Open urination and overflowing sewage in Barkatpura, Himayatnagar and Khairathabad has been a challenge for residents for long. A resident of Barkatpura, engineer Kunal Singh said, “Almost four or five days every month we face sewage trouble.”

Locals have requested Corporators to provide public urinals, but public urination is still rampant as urinals are seen nowhere. A civic worker from Rajender Colony said, “People openly urinate in front of the HimayatnagarCorporator’s office; it has become a public toilet.”

Inadequate petrol stations
Of all the issues troubling residents in Banjara Hills, the lack of petrol stations is one of the most problematic. A drinking water distributer, resident of Panjagutta, Raju said that he travels to Banjara Hills every day for water delivery. He said that he suffered many times due to unavailability of petrol pump stations. “Lack of petrol pump stations in such a posh locality is very disgraceful,” he said.

According to locals and municipal officials it was found that several requests pertaining to setup of petrol pump stations in the area are pending from a long time. The main reasons cited by the officials were due to lack of suitable land in the division.

Currently, the residents of Banjara Hills have to come to its first closest Indian Oil petrol station at Srinagar Colony or they are forced to go to Somajiguda, Masab Tank or Jubliee Hills for fuel refilling.