A plethora of problems dog Railway Employees' Colony

Bolarum: With no basic amenities in place, the residents of the Railway Employees Colony in Macha Bolarum are forced to live a life of hardships. There are a mound of issues that are plaguing this colony, including the sewage overflow, battered internal roads, encroachment of setback areas and irregular drinking water supply. With their repeated pleas falling on deaf ears of Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation authorities, the residents are clueless as to whom they should take their problems to.

They said that the colony's foremost need was an underground drainage pipeline as the complete lane of Railway Colony Phase 1 was turned into a huge cesspool due to overflow of sewage and became a breeding ground for mosquitoes. They said many cases of dengue have been reported from the area recently.

"For any colony, basic infrastructure includes internal roads, drainage and drinking water. But, unfortunately, our colony lacks all these. For the last five years, we have been requesting GHMC authorities to lay sewerage pipelines. With no proper outlet for sewage, all the dirty water is drained into the colony park turning it into a huge gutter. None cared to address our woes despite several representations given," said KJFR Das, president of Railway Employees Colony. "Whenever we complain to the GHMC, they close the complaint after a few days stating that the work was completed. However, the issues returns to square one after sometime. We are struggling to reside here due to sewage overflow and bad internal roads. Further, the encroachments are eating away into the internal roads making them shrink," said Vijay Kumar Gowlikar, secretary of the Colony.

"We are receiving drinking water once in five days and also the level of pressure of water supply is not sufficient to meet the requirements. Sometimes, we are forced to buy water cans. There has been no response from Hyderabad Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board though we have requested them several times," said Padma, a resident of the colony.

"New Bolarum is one of the fastest developing areas under GHMC Alwal with more than 100 colonies. It is the duty of the GHMC to plan the sewerage system besides roads and drinking water according to the fast-growing pace of the area," said A Murali Krishna, working president, Federation of New Bolarum Colonies Welfare Association.