Funda aplenty, yet development a far cry

Warangal: While the incessant showers for the last four days have brought cheers on the faces of farmers, but its other way round for the denizens in the tri-cities of Warangal-Hanamkonda-Kazipet. Battered roads, water logging colonies, slushy localities and what not the denizens have to cope with.

Come rainy season, it’s going to be hell. Every monsoon, the problems only get worse for the residents as storm water drains have not been constructed. Not ‘Smart’, it’s a ‘smarting city’ for the 10 lakh-odd people living in the Greater Warangal Municipal Corporation limits.

The State government claims that it was giving Rs 300 crore each year to Warangal, a Smart City in the making, for the last three years. In addition to this, Warangal was included in the Heritage City Development and Augmentation Yojana (HRIDAY) in 2014 and was chosen for Central government’s Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) in 2015.

With the funds flowing in from all quarters, apparently denizens have a lot of hopes of city development. Having seen a very little development in last four years, they now started to wonder where all the money was going.

The situation hasn’t much changed since that nightmarish experience people had witnessed in September 2016 due to the havoc created by torrential rains, which inundated several colonies in the city.

With the authorities relying more on temporary measures rather than focusing on a permanent solution, an action plan for the underground and storm-water drain systems remained elusive.

Speaking to The Hans India, the Forum for Better Warangal president Pulluru Sudhakar said: “Due to the initiative of the Municipal Commissioner VP Gautham, desilting of nallahs (drains) was done. Barring this, no concrete measure was taken by the GWMC to address the storm water problem.”

There is an imperative need for the authorities to focus on laying underground drainage system in the city, he said, pointing to the water logging roads and several colonies.  

It may be mentioned here that colonies adjacent to Bhadrakali nallah, Sammaiah Nagar nallah and Naim Nagar nallah etc. bear the brunt of overflowing of storm water.

The recent rains, although not so torrential, have made several colonies – Dwarakanagar, Gayatrinagar, Santhoshimata Colony, Sri Ram Hills and Durga Colony etc. – have made roads slushy and difficult to travel.

The potholed stretches of Desaipet-Enumamula Market road; Pocham Maidan-Paidipally roads; Pegadapally main road are some of the prime examples for what hell is all about.

“It is better to remain silent than to speak about the civic body’s preparedness, which is nothing short of Brahma Padartha (divine matter),” G Praveen Kumar Reddy of Hanamkonda vent out his ire.