Hyderabad: While the Secunderabad Cantonment Board (SCB) lacks a centralised mechanism consisting of a dedicated helpline and emergency response teams for each of its eight wards, elected representatives are trying to do their bit to attend to residents’ woes.
According to J. Ramakrishna, vice-president of the SCB, locals contact the elected representatives of their respective wards whenever they face problems such as waterlogging; the representatives then initiate steps to have choked drains and manholes cleared. “This work is outsourced to an external agency,” he says.
“The paucity of funds and manpower poses a major challenge for the SCB to offer centralised emergency services that are easily accessible to the public in time of need. We have decided to procure equipment such as electric pump sets to drain water out of flooded homes in residential colonies. Each ward member is trying his best to attend to the woes of locals during heavy downpours,” he adds.
Pointing out that the population of the Cantonment area has increased considerably over the past two decades, BJP Cantonment leader Macharla Srinivas says that the SCB has failed to strengthen its workforce accordingly, in order to offer better services to its residents.
“The SCB does not have adequate staff in all departments. In the engineering wing, there is only one engineer for each ward. If there a major problem in one ward, all engineers are deputed there, which means that there is no one left to attend to problems in other wards. The lack of manpower is one issue, and the shortage of funds is the other. Since the SCB falls under the jurisdiction of the Centre, the state government does not bother to help it,” he says.
