HYDERABAD: A nauseating smell from the open nala greets one immediately after entering a thorough lane in Lakshmiguda housing board colony, which is a mere half a kilometre from the inner ring road. This is the first sign that the colony is bereft of basic amenities like underground drainage and none to clear the waste strewn all around.
Ironically, the colony was developed around the same time KPHB had come up in Kukatpally. Today, they make for a study in contrasts.
The Telangana housing board has an enviable track-record when it comes to developing colonies and transforming them into model clusters. However, the utter neglect of Lakshmiguda colony is a blot on the board.
Jyothi Pathak, a resident of the area for 30 years, informs that auto drivers refuse to serve them. “Online bookings also draw a blank as no one is keen on entering the colony. At times, we have to walk almost two km to reach home. Even more harrowing is that online complaints and pleas for providing streetlights are closed by the electricity department without addressing the issue. One cannot even stand on the road after 6 pm as we would be swarmed by mosquitoes.”
“This is supposed to be a main road,” she says, showing the open nala.
RTC’s twice-a-day bus service that started in 1997 was discontinued in 2000 with the corporation citing lack of proper roads. The tar road was laid a few years back.
D. Raghupathy, 42, another resident of the area, mocks, “Ask us about the civic amenities are there in the area instead of those that are not there? When it was planned the board left space for a playground, school, hospital and a community hall but none of them has developed. Around 430 LIG, MIG, and HIG houses were constructed in the 86.32 acres venture.”
He informs that many residents in the area have surreptitiously connected their sewage into the open nala as the area is shorn of underground drainage system. The board, he says, had dug only pits to store excreta.
A space that was supposedly earmarked for a school has big boulders and wild vegetation. To make matters more horrifying there was a murder in the vicinity. The area designated as a playground has become a haven for anti-social activities.
Ironically, the abutting Madhuban colony, Sriram colony, Lakshmiguda village and TNGOs colony that were developed later boast of infrastructure facilities and amenities.
The Katedan industrial area, hardly one km kilometer away, is generally used by migrant labourers from north India who work in units based in Kattedan.
Sheikh Shareef, another resident, says, “A double bedroom house in the area can be rented for Rs 5,000 per month. Rents can be increased if the owners provide proper facilities.”
Water is supplied for one hour while colonies like Sriram colony and Madhuban colony have 24 hours piped water supply.
This is despite paying Rs 670 per month, says Radhakrishna, who has been residing in the area for 30 years. It is in spite of the free supply of 20,000 litres of water in other parts of the city.
“The municipal piped water facility came to the area after we threatened to boycott the earlier Lok Sabha elections. Thanks to the protest, we are now getting water,” he said.
According to B. Lakshmaiah, the problem arose because the housing board developed the area in phases across corners but did not hand over the empty spaces to the GHMC. This became a handicap for the corporation in developing amenities in the area.
D. Ramesh Mudiraj, a former GHMC ward member, says, “GHMC is yet to approve the phases that have been developed. When we go to secure services like house numbers, they charge double the rates calling them illegal layouts. Politicians would have cared for this colony if it was populated by locals. However, there are more non-locals who work in the Kattedan industrial area.”
