Petty vendors in the district headquarters town of Mahabubnagar will soon have designated (specified) space for carrying out their livelihood activities without causing obstruction to the movement of traffic by creating bottlenecks with their unwarranted trespassing.
The issue is among a few such problems identified during the ‘Pattana Pragathi’ programme held in the municipal towns from February 24 to March 4. The district administration and the urban local bodies concerned have got down to address such issues which have remained unattended for long in Mahabubnagar, Badepally (Jadcharla) and Bhoothpur.
According to officials, they have identified the need to construct separate toilets for women and men in key government offices and other utilities visited by people frequently besides resolving the neglected sanitation issue during the urban rejuvenation programme. At a review meeting held here on Friday, Minister for Municipal Administration K.T. Rama Rao termed the exercise “a success” and asked officials to shift focus to addressing the identified problems.
As part of identifying chronic problems, the civic officials of Mahabubnagar noted that petty vendors with their livelihood activities on push carts and with street-side make-shift shops, mostly on pavements at locations where the movement of public is high, have been creating traffic bottlenecks and adding to the chaos. Another major problem identified was lack of public toilets for floating public, who come to towns from villages every day for various needs, including work in government offices.
“We have identified 13 locations in Mahabubnagar to begin with for relocating about 360 petty vendors by providing them temporary sheds to carry out their livelihoods, instead of encroaching pavements and roads, without causing inconvenience to traffic movement and other road users,” District Collector S. Venkata Rao said. Similarly, they have identified premises of 13 office and utilities for constructing 90 toilets including 41 for women and 49 for men.
Offices such as Collectorate, RTA, DCCB, R&B and Irrigation and utilities including Government Hospital, Agricultural Market Yard, Old Bus Stand and others have toilets for visitors/commuters. “By constructing toilets we hope to bring down open defecation and improve sanitation in areas with large number of visitors,” the District Collector said adding that construction of toilets at Government Hospital and a couple of other locations has already begun.
Another issue addressed during ‘Pattana Pragathi’ was construction of drains in Bhagiratha Colony (22nd ward) where people have been facing highly unhygienic conditions due to overflowing drainage for more than 10 years. Proposals for laying internal roads were also moved to improve the condition, a supervisory officer involved in the programme stated.
