NELLORE: In a bizarre incident, Nellore rural legislator Kotamreddy Sridhar Reddy entered into knee-deep stinking sewage water to protest against the negligence of the Irrigation Department in constructing protection walls for a bridge on Vudumulolla Vagu - a stream that has now become a sewage canal-at Chanakyapuri in Nellore City on Wednesday.
The legislator came to the area after the residents complained to him that the walls on the bridge were demolished three months back to reconstruct new ones but to date, there was no sign of any reconstruction.
Hundreds of locals including women flocked to the bridge once they got to know about the protest of the YSR Congress MLA.
Mr Reddy ignored the warnings of locals about the presence of snakes in the drain. Alleging that the absence of the walls was resulting in frequent accidents, the MLA said he would remain in the drain water until the Irrigation wing constructed the walls.
Once news of this unique protest reached their ears, a few red-faced Irrigation Department officials rushed to the spot along with the police and promised to commence the construction of the bridge immediately and complete it within 45 days.
Braving the unbearable smell the legislator and few of his followers remained in the dirty water for nearly one hour. He relented after the officials pleaded with him repeatedly to withdraw his protest and come out of the sewage water.
Speaking to media persons later, Mr Sridhar Reddy spoke about the ordeals of the residents of Vudumulolla Vagu, because of the wall-less bridge. He said many people had fallen in the sewage water and suffered injuries. “Though I had taken the issue to the officials concerned many-a-times in the past, there was hardly any response from them,” he alleged.
