It is a pathetic story of nearly 800 families living in Pedapenki village of Balijipeta mandal of Parvatipuram-Manyam district. The government’s good intention to develop an efficient drainage system, water tanks and roads in the village turned into a bane for people living in the village due to delays in the completion of the works.

As part of the developmental works, the officials removed steps, ramps of houses and encroachments on drainage eight months ago. Now, the people have been facing untold misery in the absence of steps and concrete structures to move in and out of their houses. The elderly people and patients are the immediate victims due to the untold miseries.

The villagers are keeping wood boards and temporary structures for the movement, but they are not fit for regular and frequent use due to their light weight. Local leaders Burada Rammohana Rao, Sadhu Rambabu, M. Papinaidu and others alleged that the work was going at a snail’s pace due to a lack of coordination among contracting agencies and various departments such as Panchayat Raj, Water Management Agency, Rural Water Supply and others.

Local people struggle with inordinate delays in the construction of the drainage system and the demolition of structures and steps of houses in Pedapenki village of Balijipeta mandal of Parvatipuram-Manyam district. Photo: Special arrangement.

“With the initiative of the Deputy Chief Minister Pawan Kalyan, the government sanctioned around ₹3.8 crore for the improvement of sanitation in Pedapenki, in which a known number of cases of filariasis and other waterborne diseases. Unfortunately, the works are not being completed at the ground level,” said Mr. Ramamohana Rao.

TDP MLA Bonela Vijaya Chandra has raised the issue in the developmental review meeting held recently in Parvatipuram and asked Collector N. Prabhakar Reddy to take action against the officials concerned for the inordinate delay in completion of the works.

The Pedapenki village issue led to a heated argument between the legislator and the collector in the presence of Minister for Tribal Welfare Gummadi Sandhya Rani. Mr. Vijaya Chandra has reportedly brought the issue to the notice of the Chief Minister’s Office while registering his dissent over the casual response from the officials on the issue of hundreds of families.

A senior official told that the majority of the works were completed long ago, but a few works in certain pockets would be completed in a few weeks. He alleged that the locals were putting garbage and sand in under construction drainages and it was leading to delay in completion of the works.