Andhra Pradesh - Vijayawada   

Sanitation a cause for concern

VIJAYAWADA: Sanitation has gone for a toss in the city in the wake of recent heavy rains. As much as 1,000 tonnes of Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) has piled up at several parts of the city. Garbage bins are overflowing across the city, as the staff of the sanitation wing of the Vijayawada Municipal Corporation (VMC) has not been lifting the garbage for the last two days.

The corporation uses 320 dumper bins and more than 800 RCC bins, and nearly 500 tonnes of garbage is dumped at the street corners where garbage bins are placed. Nearly 22 dumper placers, including 15 owned by the VMC, collect the garbage and dump at the Pathapadu dumping yard.

VMC officials plead that they could not lift the garbage due to continuous rains. Moreover, all the roads leading to Pathapadu dumping yard have been submerged in flood waters. They assure to lift all the piled up garbage “at the earliest.” The piling up of garbage has given rise to apprehensions of break-out of various diseases, with the residents of flood-affected areas complaining about getting contaminated drinking water and unhygienic surroundings.

Meanwhile, the number of relief camps opened by the VMC came down to 24 from 29 on Tuesday. VMC Elementary School at South Prakash Nagar, CSI Church and Indoor Stadium were some of the relief camps that were closed. VMC officials said some people had chosen to return to their houses as the flood water started receding at some places. The corporation supplied 20,525 food packets at 24 relief camps on Tuesday morning, and the number of packets came down to 11,375 by night, indicating that nearly 9,000 people moved out of the camps.

Voluntary organisations like the Lions Club and philanthropists also joined hands with the corporation by supplying food packets and water sachets. The Lions Club supplied nearly 3,000 food packets at places like Rajiv Nagar, Patamatalanka, Rajarjeswaripeta and Gujjala Sarala Devi Kalyanmandapam. Fans of actor Chiranjeevi also chipped in with their own contribution.

The water level in Budameru began receding by Tuesday morning though some of the colonies still remained submerged in the flood waters. The flood in the Krishna at Prakasam Barrage also receded totally, with the surplus falling to 54,000 cusecs by the evening. The discharge, which was 2 lakh cusecs at 6 a.m., dropped to 54,000 cusecs by 8 p.m. according to the Irrigation authorities.

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