Issues like the proliferation of stray dogs, high incidence of viral fevers and the urgent need for a robust underground drain network took centre stage at the general council meeting of the Vijayawada Municipal Corporation (VMC) on August 28 (Wednesday).
As many as 122 proposals were discussed, with most of them getting approved. A few corporators staged a demonstration before the beginning of the meeting highlighting the issues of the stray dog menace and viral fevers in the city, and demanded that the corporation ensure supply of safe drinking water.
B. Satya Babu, the CPI(M) floor leader in the council and councillor from Ward 50, said the TDP-led NDA government should take measures to fulfil its promise of allotting two cents of land to landless poor and build houses for them.
Chennupati Usha Rani, Ward 8 councillor, proposed that the number of vehicles to catch stray dogs for sterilisation be increased. At present, the city has only one vehicle deployed for the pupose, she said, and also proposed that special measures be taken in view of the rising incidence of viral fevers in the city. “Our proposals were approved. We were also told that the sterilisation programme for stray dogs will begin in the second week of September,” she said. The stray dog menace was discussed by other corporators as well.
Another corporator, M. Venkata Prasad, said that those who had parted with their land for widening projects taken up on Patamata Road, Mahanadu Road and Gantutippa drain are still awaiting compensation. He also highlighted the condition of underground drains in Patamata, and said collection wells and trunk lines are overflowing due to piling up of garbage and proposed that measures be taken for garbage removal.
TDP floor leader N. Balaswamy said that the Clean Andhra Pradesh (CLAP) vehicles used for lifting of garbage are no longer playing any music to notify residents about their arrival. Many do not know when these vehicles come and go, he said, adding that underground drain workers need to be given uniforms, a practice which he claimed was stopped during the past five years.
Other proposals that were discussed include skeletal sanitation staff in the city, the presence of stray cattle on the roads creating problems for motorists, and replacement of old drinking water pipelines with new ones.
