The Hindu 07.11.2009
60-cr. project to lay roads in slums
Special Correspondent
| Minister holds discussions with VGTMUDA and GMC to finalise plan |
Minister makes a surprise visit to some wards in Guntur East, West
DPRO photographer falls into a ditch full of drain water
Photo: T. Vijaya Kumar 
Damage control?: A municipal employee sprays insecticide in a drain at Yadava Colony in Old Guntur even as Minister Kanna Lakshmi Narayana (not in the picture), district Collector B. Ramanjaneyulu and others take an early morning walk on Friday. —
GUNTUR: With elections to Guntur Municipal Corporation in just over a year, Minister for Heavy Industries Kanna Lakshmi Narayana, who had adopted the Guntur West Assembly Constituency during current term, launched a massive drive to assess the quality of civic amenities being provided to people in the city on Friday.
Discussions held
Moved by the conditions in the slums and some fringe colonies, the Minister held discussions with the VGTMUDA and GMC officials to finalise a plan to lay roads in all slums by the time the IHSDP Funds were released.
The former Mayor Kanna Nagaraju was also present at the meeting, where it was finally decided to invest Rs.60 crore for the purpose. The GMC would invest Rs.30 crore and UDA will chip in with Rs.30 crore.
The Mayor Rayapati Mohan Saikrishna is away in New Delhi meeting the Union Urban Development Minister S. Jaipal Reddy to put pressure on him to get funds under the IHSDP.
Mr. Kanna Lakshmi Narayana, however, said that drains would be readied by the time funds for roads were released with the estimates being prepared now for seeking about Rs.450 crore for a comprehensive slum development programme.
In a surprise move, the Minister announced a check of some of the wards in Guntur East and Guntur West Assembly constituencies that together make the GMC area, along with Guntur East MLA Mastan Vali and went to inspect 10 colonies, sharp at 5 a.m.
Many of the residents were still in deep sleep when a battery of municipal officials, the Minister, MLA, Municipal Commissioner Illambarthi and Guntur Collector B. Ramanjaneyulu, with media persons, set out to assess the sanitation in Sangadigunta 3rd Lane.
Poor sanitation
The inspection showed how bad the situation was in the colony, when a photographer of the DPRO fell into a 4-feet ditch full of drain water right along the road that did not have a single street light. Indiramma Houses were being constructed with drain water flowing on the streets.
Municipal staff were caught napping at many colonies like Yadava Colony in Old Guntur and Sangadigunta, when they began removing solid waste even as the Minister was walking on the streets to inspect some of the burial grounds. The Minister said that this would be a regular affair from now with once every month he along with the Commissioner and Collectors touring at least 10 colonies.
