Ensuring safe drinking water, sanitation and pothole-free roads are my priorities: VMC Commissioner

New VMC Commissioner vows to focus on safe water supply, pothole-free roads, street lights, and sewage prevention in Vijayawada.

Ensuring safe drinking water supply, pothole-free roads, street lights in all areas in Vijayawada and working towards the prevention of the release of sewage into canals will be the main focus areas, said H.M. Dhyanachandra, who took charge as the Commissioner of the Vijayawada Municipal Corporation (VMC) on July 25.

In a conversation with The Hindu on July 27, Saturday, Mr. Dhyanachandra said he would first find out more about how the drinking water and sewage pipelines are laid in the city and then work on fixing the gaps, if any. “It is a usual practice to lay sewage pipelines below the drinking water ones. But, this structure is not followed at some places, leading to spread of infections,” he said.

To ensure that the city does not see another diarrhoeal outbreak, in addition to ruling out the crisscrossing of pipelines, the Corporation would also check the quality of food served by street vendors and raise awareness among the public about personal hygiene practices, he said, assuring the public of looking into the issue of discolouration of water.

On the few observations he made during his inspections of a few colonies in the past two days, he said: “I saw billboards put up by advertising firms along the road medians, a practice that needs to stop. We are focussing on increasing greenery along the medians, and figuring out if we can provide a safe path for citizens to cross the roads.” At many places in the city, citizens climb the median to reach the other side.

Regarding road safety, Mr. Dhyanachandra said he instructed officials concerned on Saturday to map all potholes in the VMC limits and areas without street lights. “I am told there are around 1,500 potholes that need to be filled immediately. However, an audit is under way to fetch the exact number on potholes and areas without proper lighting,” he said.

The Commissioner said funds to the tune of ₹30 crore have been sanctioned by the Centre for cleaning the canals in the city. While the work has been assigned to a private agency, VMC will coordinate with them in the task.

On Saturday, the Commissioner visited Chitti Nagar and inspected the maintenance of sanitation and later called on NTR district Joint Collector Nidhi Meena.