Out of frying pan into the fire: the unending woes of Jakkampudi YSR Colony residents

Residents of YSR Colony in Jakkampudi face ongoing flooding issues despite promises of relief and restoration by officials.

More than one-and-a-half decades ago, the present residents of the YSR Colony at Jakkampudi were shifted here from various parts of the city, citing that they were living on the Krishna riverbed, canal bunds, and on road margins. Some victims of the perennial Budameru floods were also allotted houses here besides those who had been living in encroached areas in Gulabithota and Sundaraiah Nagar. 

However, there seems to be no relief from floods for them, as had been promised by the Vijayawada Municipal Corporation (VMC) officials and political leaders then. While frequent floods continue to haunt them, the situation this year turned much worse with the Budameru flood submerging their colony.

For the past 10 days, more than 7,900 families have been waiting for restoration of normalcy in their flooded colony. More than 2,000 families living on the ground floor of the buildings in the colony suffered the worst as the flood waters completely submerged them, reaching up to first floor in many instances. “The Jakkampudi YSR Colony is the first residential area in the city to witness flooding, and the last colony to come out of distress,” said CPI(M) NTR district secretariat member B. Satti Babu. The entire colony stinks. Bleaching has not been done in some places, and floodwater is still there. Power supply has to be restored in many blocks,’‘ he said. 

The residents wanted the State government to scale up the relief and restoration works. Kalyan, an auto driver, whose family was shifted from the Padmavathi ghat area in the city, lamented that many of them lost valuables due to the flooding. Their autorickshaws washed away to far-off places. ‘‘We waded in the flood waters to bring back our autos,’‘ he said. 

Sharing his woes, Ravi, a petty vendor who sells bangles, recalled that his family was shifted from Bhavanipuram. The officials then promised that the colony was a safe place to live. One could easily understand that the entire colony was constructed in the Budameru flood area. “We have lost all our belongings, and remained without any source of income for more than 10 days,” he said.  

The Vijayawada Municipal Corporation (VMC) took up construction of 8,800 houses at Jakkampudi under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) Programme at a cost of ₹242 crore, including infrastructure cost of ₹44 crore. The housing complex is constructed in an area of 96.56 acre. Each unit with a plinth of 315 sq.ft cost around ₹2.25 lakh. Of this, the Central government’s share was ₹66,000, the State government and the Urban Local Body chipped in with ₹1.19 lakh, while the beneficiary contributed ₹40,000.

‘’The then government had promised the moon to them. But they have become the worst sufferers. It is as if they were moved out of the frying pan into the fire. After spending crores of rupees, more than 8,000 families are at the receiving end,” said CPI State secretariat member Ch. Babu Rao. ‘‘Every day is a struggle for the residents in the colony. The government should focus on a permanent solution,’‘ he added.