Vijayawada: To prevent water stagnation, inundation of city roads, and ensure the free flow of water during monsoon season, the Vijayawada Municipal Corporation (VMC) has completed desilting work on 826.24 km of minor, medium, and major drains in the city.According to VMC official records, the city has 826.24 km of minor drains, 275.42 km of medium drains, and 82.54 km of major drains, which totals to 1,184.3 km. Ahead of the monsoon season, the civic body undertook the desilting of drains across all major drains spanning 122 km and awarded the work to a contractor, setting a deadline of May 31.Satya Narayana, VMC SE (projects), told TOI, “The civic body has taken up the desilting of major drains spanning 122 km at a cost of nearly 5 crore. The work, which commenced two months ago, has been completed in most areas, while a few kilometres of drains remain. Those will be completed by June 5.”He added that the engineering department is handling the desilting of the major drains, while the public health wing carried out the desilting of the remaining minor and medium drain canals in the city. The official also mentioned that silt removed from the drain canals has been deposited at Ajith Singh Nagar Excel plant and iron yard area.“The civic body spends crores of rupees every year to clear silt from drain canals. However, the drains continue to choke during rains, leading to overflow and inundation of low-lying areas in the city. We, the citizens of Vijayawada, demand that the civic body takes permanent measures to prevent drain overflow during rains,” said Siva Reddy, a resident of Krishna Lanka.
