Better drains, roads in Wanaparthy are needs of the hour

Wanaparthy: The people of Wanaparthy municipality are demanding better drainage system, roads and water supply. Even though six years passed since the formation of Telangana, there has been no change in the condition of drainage system and roads in the municipality. The people hoped that after the formation of new district of Wanaparthy, things would change and development would pick up pace. But, unfortunately, the drainage system has been left where it is and the water supply system is also in shambles with frequent repairs and damages to pipelines. The State government, however, has been supplying water under Mission Bhagiratha through the old pipelines system where the officials are forced to take up repairs due to frequent leaks to the pipelines.

"We were happy when the State government announced Wanaparthy as a district and we expected there would be a lot of changes in the district headquarters. Though two years passed since its formation, there has been no big change in the living standards of people. Widening of roads is pending and going at a snail's pace with traffic chocking internal roads. Though officials said government has sanctioned funds for the widening of roads, nothing has been happening," said Nagesh, a resident of Rajiv Chowk in Wanaparthy municipality.

The Wanaparthy municipality earlier had 26 wards. After the reorganisation of districts, the municipality limits expanded with the merging of Nagavaram, Laxmidevipally, Rajanagar, Srinivaspur, Marrikunta, Srinivaspur and Srinivaspur Thanda villages. With this, the number of wards in the municipality has increased to 33 and the population of the municipality has also increased from 60,000 earlier to nearly 1 lakh at present.

When the municipal elections were held in 2014 after formation of Telangana, TRS party won only two wards, while Telugu Desam and Congress won maximum wards of the 26 total wards. TDP leader Palusa Ramesh Goud was made Chairperson for Wanaparthy municipality with the support of Congress councillors. TRS leader Singireddy Niranjan Reddy played a key role in successfully coaxing the municipal chairman along with majority TDP and Congress councillors to jump into TRS party thereby making the presence of TDP and Congress councillors almost null in Wanaparthy municipality.

With this, the people of Wanaparthy had expected good drains, roads and water pipeline system. Unfortunately, nothing major was taken up except the renovation of Nallacheruvu mini-tank bund, Eco-Tourism Park and implementation of usual welfare schemes like Kalyana Lakshmi, Aasara pensions and construction of market yards and parks in the municipality.

During the Assembly elections held in 2018, the State government had sanctioned Rs 20 crore for the road expansion works and TRS leader KT Rama Rao laid the foundation stone. However, these works are going on at a snail's pace,

After the Assembly elections with Singireddy Niranjan Reddy becoming the Agriculture Minister, the people of the municipality thought that development works would pick up pace. But unfortunately, nothing has been done since then.

"Earlier councillors who won on Congress and TDP tickets jumped into TRS and expected more funds and more projects for Wanaparthy district. But our hopes were dashed. The drainage system is pathetic and the with staff crunch there are no workers to clean the open drains," said Shankar Prasad, former vice-chairman of Wanaparthy municipality. Another big issue plaguing the municipality is disposal of waste. With no dumping yards, people are forced to throw garbage in open spaces.

With the municipal elections just a few days away, the TRS leaders in Wanaparthy are promising to come out with a comprehensive action plan. According to political analysts from Wanaparthy, there are chances that the Congress and TDP might fight by forming alliance to fight the TRS. On the other hand, the BJP, which is also very strong locally, is trying to pool its voters by highlighting the TRS party's failures in Wanaparthy municipality. If Congress, TDP combine and with BJP's support, there is a chance of TRS facing a tough competition. If anything goes against TRS, the BJP might gain its upper hand and with Congress and TDP supporting it, the possibilities of B Krishna, BJP leader becoming Chairman of Wanaparthy district are strong. And if TRS wins, then the possibility of Gattu Yadav getting elevated to Chairman post are higher.