The city has no proper infrastructure, while many areas lack even the basic amenities.
Picture for representation only.
Vijayawada: By all accounts, 2013 will be remembered as the year in which development of the city took a backseat.
The Centre’s decision to bifurcate the state has provided both the public representatives and officials an excuse that they utilise freely.
The city, with a population of over 11 lakh people, has no proper infrastructure, while many areas lack even the basic amenities. The administration had proposed several projects, and also submitted reports pertaining to these projects to higher authorities so that work could be taken up. However, this was much before the bifurcation issue began to heat up.
The citizens had high hopes that 2013 will usher in an era of development, since general elections are due in 2014. The hoped that the public representatives would wake up from their slumber and at least ensure that the projects announced earlier would bear fruit and new projects would be announced.
Alas, it was not to be, and the citizens are dismayed that the Centre, by way of its decision on bifurcation, has given an opportunity to the public representatives to wash their hands off their responsibilities.
These responsibilities include several important projects that are pending with the state government and there has been no movement forward, despite assurances being given by the Chief Minister, Union ministers and local legislators.
The one thing that has hurt the city development the most has been the failure of the state government to release funds. As per rules, the state government should have released as much as Rs 250 crore as its share towards the city’s development, but it did not do so.
Projects like flyovers at Durga temple and Benz Circle, and the expansion of the Machilipatnam road have never gotten off the ground, giving no relief from traffic jams to citizens. Similarly, there has been no progress in the Machilipatnam port development works.
The proposed retaining walls on the banks of River Krishna and the Budameru rivulet, the construction of a super-specialty hospital, important tourism projects like the renovation of Gandhi hill and ropeway project (despite a promise by Union tourism minister K. Chiranjeevi to release funds a year ago), are among the projects that have been put on the backburner.
Likewise, the Urban Development Authority’s proposed projects like Bodhisiri Hill Park haven’t been initiated even after two years. While devotees wait for the construction of cottages at Durga temple to begin, the survey report on housing schemes under the JNNURM scheme gathers dust.
Work on the expansion of the Gannavaram airport is still to begin, though Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy has allotted the necessary funds for land acquisition.
This is despite the fact that the Centre announced its decision on Telangana on July 30, after almost seven months of the year passed by.
( Source : dc )
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