B. Navya, Class IX student, has to fill containers and pots with drinking water at home before heading to her school every morning. Accompanied by her mother, she has to walk till the main road and back home to carry buckets of water supplied by the GVMC.
Like Navya, women team up at the main road of Kotha Salipeta Ward Boy Line near King George Hospital in the morning to fetch water which is considered one of the major household chores.
From a stable during the colonial period to a colony that drew about 1,000 families, Kotha Salipeta Ward Boy Line is a neighbourhood that barely saw any signs of development.
Most residents continue to defecate in open and the elevated sand hill next to the colony is the place they head to relieve themselves. “Except a few, most of us do not have toilets. Open defecation is the norm here ever since our childhood. Recently, we came to know about the individual household latrines but we do not know how to get it done, approaching the concerned officials,” said Devupalli Pottamma, colony resident. For several years now, residents continue to live in a very unhygienic conditions.
For decades, Class IV employees of King George Hospital have been staying at the Kotha Salipeta Ward Boy Line. The next generation is also engaged in the same line of work. “When cyclone Hudhud had hit the city in 2014, most of our belongings were lost. Each household received Rs.5,000 as part of the financial assistance from the government.
However, the actual cost incurred by each one of us was four-five times higher,” says Akula Ananda Rao, a resident.
Residents expressed concern over lack of basic amenities, poor drainage system and irregular garbage disposal.
Zone III Commissioner V. Chakradhar; Mobile No: 9848889701; Helpdesk No: 0891-2707299.
