Picture of neglect: A view of Carmel Nagar near Gunadala in Vijayawada. Daily commute to the core areas of the city is an arduous task for the residents of Carmel Nagar, Prasanthi Nagar, Shiridi Sai Nagar and the surroundings.
| Photo Credit: G.N. RAO
Carmel Nagar and its surrounding colonies which are very much part of the Vijayawada Municipal Corporation have remained underdeveloped for the past several decades even as the rest of the city witnessed rapid urbanisation.
Thanks to the lack of connectivity that eluded the area located beyond the three canals — Eluru, Ryves and Budameru — and a railway line passing through the city.
The only shortest way to reach the area is through the ‘Gunadala Vanthena’ which has become a bottleneck due to the increase in vehicular traffic and the movement of trains.
As a result, commuting between the area and Eluru Road has become an arduous task for the locals of Carmel Nagar, Prasanthi Nagar, Shiridi Sai Nagar and others.
The pillars of the flyover, which was supposed to end the woes of the people living in these areas more than a decade ago, still lay in a shambles since the construction was stopped midway.
The flyover work began 14 years ago and several governments and elected representatives who promised to complete it failed to do so.
Recently, a roundtable meeting by the representatives of local colony associations and CPI senior leader Ch. Babu Rao and others was held, where it was decided to take up a series of programmes such as door-to-door signature collection campaign, submission of representations to the officials and elected representatives, staging a protest, 24-hour hunger strike and others in the near future to highlight the issue.
Completion of the flyover would also help people travelling to Nunna from the city.