The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh / Vijayawada News : Outfall drain poses health hazard

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Feb 17, 2005

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh - Vijayawada

Outfall drain poses health hazard

By G.V.Ramana Rao

An open drain which overflows whenever there is rain.

VIJAYAWADA, FEB.16. The 15th division is located in the heart of the Vijayawada West Assembly constituency and is one of the oldest parts of the city. The division is spread around the Gandhi Hill, an important landmark of the city.

Nehru road forms the eastern border and BRP road forms the border on the western side. The division extends almost up to Panja Centre on the North and RPH Road and Padi Street on the South. About 60 per cent of the 13,000 people living in the division belong to the Muslim community. Three important mosques -- two in Wynchpet and one on BRP road -- are located in the division. The division also has an Urdu medium High School and two Urdu medium Elementary Schools.

Congress stronghold

The division, a stronghold of the Congress party, elected Muslims to the municipal corporation until the previous elections. The people of the division elected Yelakala Chalapathi Rao to the corporation, though he is not a Muslim because he contested as a candidate of the Congress party. In the recent elections, Mr Chalapathi Rao's wife, Padmavathi, was nominated by the Congress party, because the division was reserved for women and she won.

Lack of an underground drainage is a bane for people of the division. Many of the residents, who have been living for generations in the division, have switched from open lavatories to the modern flush toilets overnight. Water from the toilets is released directly into the storm-water drains for want of septic tanks. The outfall drain that cuts across the division carrying sewage water from the 11th and 12th divisions is another problem that has been pending for a long time. The outfall drain overflows even if there is a moderate amount of rain. "The people living on either side of the outfall drain have to wade through foul sewage water when it rains, even a little heavily," says Sheik Basheer, a resident of the division.

People of the Aabothula Appanna Colony have been living for decades, but have not been given pattas. The small hamlet of thatched houses is a like a blemish on the division. "We have to live in thatched houses because we do not have pattas for the houses. We have been living here for generations and everybody says that we should be given pattas, but nobody is able to help us secure them, " says Savitramma, a resident of the colony.

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