The Hindu 12.10.2010
FBV for action to prevent water-logging of ST hostel
Special Correspondent
FBV convenor writes to district Collector
Water-logging has become a health hazard to inmates, he says
VISAKHAPATNAM: Forum for Better Visakha (FBV) has expressed concern over frequent water-logging of tribal girls’ hostel and asked the authorities to take preventive steps.
Referring to recent water-logging of the hostel located in Sector-X of MVP Colony in the city, FBV convener E.A.S. Sarma wrote a letter to District Collector J. Syamala Rao asking him to intervene and solve the problem.
In the recent spell of rain caused by a low pressure, the water that accumulated on the hostel premises had constituted a serious health hazard.
“I wonder whether the District Tribal Welfare Officer has brought this to your notice! I suggest a quick response from the administration in providing relief and solace to the inmates of the hostel,” Mr. Sarma, a former IAS officer stated in the letter.
Greater Visakha Municipal Corporation was partly responsible for such frequent flooding of localities in the city, he pointed out. The drainage channels throughout the city are clogged. There are encroachments along the banks of these drainage channels by both the influential and others. Plastic material and tyres are the other cause.
Mr. Sarma said it was the combined failure of GVMC and the Collectorate in handling the problem that had resulted in this sort of situation. “There is a committee under your chairmanship to discourage the use of plastics, on which I have written to you several times, without much response. I also suggest that you take a review meeting to find out the problems of all such institutions and even private bodies running schools for orphans, handicapped and other disadvantaged sections and try to provide facilities consistent with the dignity of human rights.”
The district administration’s primary responsibility was towards these less advantaged sections rather than towards affluent industrial and other agencies such as Radiant Developers, Rama Naidu Studios, Gitam University and others, he stated.
