Vijayawada: Ex-DGP suggests canal beautification

Vijayawada: The officials are looking into the suggestions made by former DGP N. Sambasiva Rao regarding beautification of three canals in Vijayawada.  
Each canal has two banks, stretching to 15 km, which needs to be developed under the beautification project, and together it would amount to 90 km. The top cop is suggesting giving one kilometer stretch each to small time contractors which would generate entrepreneurship and employment on a large scale. In such a case, the city can be developed on the lines of Paris and other European countries, according to the observations of the former DGP.

The officials are contemplating to beautify the canal bunds, in association with the other government agencies like Amaravati Development Corporattion (ADC). The meeting held recently has received suggestions from the railway, RTC, revenue and police departments. The officials are examining the technical and financial viabilities of this canal bunds project. As there is a provision of getting financial assistance from the central government for such kind of beautification-cum-commercial projects under specific schemes, the district administration is exploring these possibilities too.

At present, the bunds are convenient places to dump construction and demolition debris. District collector B. Lakshmikantham said that the Union ministry of environment and forest had specified that a separate facility should be arranged to dispose the construction debris in the cities, having more than 10 lakh population.

Large quantities of debris can be seen on Bandar Canal bund near Krishna Lanka and Kanaka Durga Varadhi. Similarly, the Eluru canal near Sitaramaraju bridge also has huge quantity of debris dumped there. After examining the debris and the unmanageable traffic in the city, the district collector spoke to VMC commissioner Nivas and asked him to see if the construction debris can be used as building material to bridge platforms on the canals.