The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh / Visakhapatnam News : Sagar Nagar residents clamour for amenities

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Jan 09, 2005

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh - Visakhapatnam

Sagar Nagar residents clamour for amenities

By Our Special Correspondent

VISAKHAPATNAM, JAN. 8. The Tax Payers Forum of the suburban Sagar Nagar colony, which comes under the Gudlavanipalem panchayat, is sore that despite the residents' promptness in remitting the property tax since 1992, the sarpanch and the secretary have cared to provide any civic amenities to them.

The colony is a satellite township of the city and has 1,240 houses built under the HIG-I, HIG-II, MIG and LIG schemes of Visakhapatnam Urban Development Authority.

According to the forum chairman, K. Ranga Bhashyam, the gram panchayat has so far collected Rs. 60 lakhs, besides getting some grants from the Registration Department.

Huge revenue

``Despite this huge revenue, the gram panchayat has done nothing tangible towards fulfilling the civic needs of the colony residents," he has said in a memorandum to the Commissioner of Panchayat Raj and added that the colony's drinking water problem has not been properly addressed by the sarpanch or secretary.

In this connection, he recalled that the forum took an undertaking from the sarpanch on October 18, 2004, to ensure water supply to the colony as and when the Godavari water supply scheme for Visakhapatnam became operational.

The memorandum points out that there has been no permanent secretary for the panchayat, which has a woman sarpanch.

Further, the statutory gram sabha which was scheduled to be held on October 12, 2004, was not conducted at all, for reasons best known the sarpanch/secretary, Mr. Ranga Bhashyam says and adds that the District Panchayat Officer "is silent over this despite repeated requests from the residents."

No transparency

The memorandum alleges that there is lack of transparency on the part of the panchayat in calling for tenders for public works like black-topping of roads, sanitation improvement and drainage. "The ward members of the panchayat are also unaccountable to tax payers, thereby denying the latter's basic rights."

Stating that the representations given to the district Collector and the district Panchayat Officer during the `Spandana' programmes on May 26, June 27, August 5 and August 19 last on these issues have not been of any avail, the memorandum has requested the Commissioner to take necessary steps to protect the tax payers' rights.

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