The news that Andhra Pradesh has bagged 7 municipal and urban development awards was met with incredulity by the public suffering from multiple civic woes.
As expected, the news that the state has bagged half of the eligible awards at the 5th National Annual Conference of JNNURM hosted by the Ministry of Urban Development and Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation was met with incredulity and disbelief by the citizens.
The citizens, who are forced to travel on roads which have more potholes than tarmac, put up with traffic jams which go on for hours, improper street lighting, erratic power supply, polluted supply of drinking water at abysmally low pressure, and many other civic problems apart from being asked to give bribes in every government office, were not ready to absorb the news fast.
Almost all the people spoken to had one thing in common to say - "If the state is receiving awards even after such a pitiable condition here, then the rest of the country must be really underdeveloped"
The news that the state has bagged awards for its performance in urban development, service delivery, governance reforms, and pro-poor focus in implementation of projects and reforms was released by the Ministry of Urban Development on Saturday.
Some of the people stated that the increase in their hardships was the result of the present Congress government being beleaguered with internal party strife, and hence was unable to concentrate on the development aspect.
They opined that issues facing the public had been put on hold till the ruling party set its own house in order.
Kanis Fatima, who resides in Hyderabad, hoped that the newly formed cabinet of Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy would pay heed to the plethora of problems being faced by the people, particularly the section of society whose lives depend on their daily wages.
She said that the public representatives must pay attentions towards the citizens' problems and plan long-term.
Hashmi, another Hyderabad resident, said that the existing turmoil in the state would get worse with the Telangana issue all set to be raised again by politicians who were only interested in catching the voters' eyes. This, he said, would delay implementation of public welfare programs further.
"The political uncertainty has created a lot of problems for the people. Whether it is the Telangana issue or Congress's own tussle, the common man is the most affected," Hashmi stated.
Nagalakshmi, a student, added that the awards bagged by the state were just an eyewash.
"The state must have bagged the awards since it is a Congress-ruled state," she said. She added that since the Congress was in power in both the state and the centre, Andhra Pradesh bagging the awards was not surprising.
Courtesy: INN