KURNOOL: Kurnool City, that aspires to become the Capital City of Andhra Pradesh, should have a Referendum now, as the city lacks basic civic amenities. Official apathy and political interference in developmental activities took a toll on its civic rankings.
Pig rearers throw a challenge to the efforts of civic authorities in maintaining the city clean and green. Police and Civic authorities launched joint operations last year to free the city from the pig menace but to no avail, said YSRC leader B.Y. Ramaiah.
Pigs are on prowl in Kurnool city. Apart from the lack of cleanliness in the city, the lanes and by lanes of Kurnool city are full of pigs causing lot of problems to the residents.
The Civic authorities appear to have turned a blind eye to the problems created by pigs. Except on some main roads, pigs are sighted in almost all the residential localities. Children are afraid to play out. As per rough calculations, there are at least 50,000 pigs in the city. More than 90 families here depend on rearing pigs.
The swine rearing is more at Budhavarapet, Sareen Nagar, Vaddegeri, Saibabasanjeevaiah Nagar, Mujafarnagar, Geethamukarji nagar, Aroranagar and several other colonies in the city. There are 54 wards within Kurnool Municipal Corporation limits and nearly 200 residential colonies in the city. Of them, Bhudavarpet, Swamireddynagar, Krishna Nagar, Devanagar, Vitalnagar, Aroranagar, Mahalakshmi Nagar, Kallur, Abbaas Nagar, Ayyappanagar, Mujafar Nagar and other localities face troubles with pigs.
“Pigs are the sources of several diseases such as brain fever,” general physician and retired Kurnool Medical College principal Dr Bhavani Prasad said.
“Hotel waste has become a nuisance in colonies. Pigs, dogs and other animals carry the garbage and deposit it near the houses. As the waste from hotels and houses are very high, it may cause the spread of diseases,” C. Srinivasulu, of Krishnanagar said.
“My family depends on sale of pigs. I have no other source of income to run my family,” M. Vijay, Sareen Nagar, a swine rearers, said. “We are ready to vacate the city if the government provides all facilities in the city outskirts,” he said.
They urged the government to facilitate a separate colony near the city along with all accommodation to pigs, he added.
When contacted, KMC Commissioner Ravindra Babu said that they have allocated five acres to pig rearers near Pandipadu in Kallur mandal, a few years ago. But they are not interested to go there, he added. Anyhow, they are planning to introduce all facilities for the pig rearers on city outskirts to bring about a ‘no pig zone city’, the Commissioner added.
