VIJAYAWADA: Corporators across party lines came down heavily on the Vijayawada Municipal Corporation (VMC) officials for the poor maintenance of the city’s drainage system, blaming them for the flooding and health hazards caused by blocked drains and an inefficient underground drainage (UGD) network.
During the VMC council meeting held on Tuesday, corporators from both the ruling and opposition benches united in criticism, holding the engineering wing—particularly the Chief Engineer, Superintending Engineers, Executive Engineers, Assistant Engineers, and related staff—accountable for years of negligence. Mayor Rayana Bhagya Lakshmi, who chaired the meeting, expressed her discontent with the engineering department, terming it “the worst maintenance and the worst department.”
Ward 43 Corporator Bapati Koti Reddy pointed out that even a short spell of rain leads to severe waterlogging and flooding in suburban areas due to poor upkeep of the drainage network. TDP corporators Nellibandla Balaswamy, Mummineni Prasad, and CPM corporator Boyi Satyababu highlighted that many parts of the city are submerged every rainy season due to the absence of a proper drainage system.
