Vijayawada: Though situated nearby the busy Besant road and despite the presence of a famous cinema, Annapurna, on it, the road is in a very bad shape.
The 1.5-km road, in the 21st division in the city, is pothole-ridden and had not been repaired since long. This is the route through which 5 number bus passes.
Not just this road, even the Besant road, roads at the fish market and the Congress office need to be repaired as water stagnates whenever there is rain because there is no passage for the water to drain out.
The stagnation of water is damaging the roads severely. Works of these roads have been pending for the last 3-4 years. In the 21st division, the drains also overflow. Sewage water keeps overflowing from the manhole at Nakkal Road near Central Bank of India but the civic body officials have done nothing to correct it so far. Y. Subba Rao, CPM leader in the 21st division, told Deccan Chronicle, “We had complained about the issue to the civic authorities many times. We spoke to the commissioners of the VMC. They say tenders would be called but that has not been done till now. The storm water project is going on and we hope it would help solve our problems to some extent.”
Bala Swamy, TD corporator, told DC, “Many roads need repairs and we are waiting for the funds. Malladi Vari street, Prakasam road, Narasimha Rao Street, Gopu Ramachandra Rao street, Chiluku Durgaiah street need repairs. I told the mayor and MLA, and even the higher authorities in the government, about the works on these roads but funds have not been allotted.”
He said that Narasimha Rao street, Kaleswara Rao street were allotted Rs 36 lakh of MLA fund but they were not released because underground drainage works are going on. “This area has many hospitals and the ambulances carrying patients pass through the roads and so they need to be developed on priority basis,” he added. According to corporator Bala Swamy, funds are not being released to the division even when Chief Minister’s camp office and other important offices are present here. The roads till the offices have been laid but beyond that, they say there is fund crunch.
