Andhra Pradesh: Health Minister takes a dim view of city’s sanitation woes

Rajani instructs officials to resolve long-pending issues at the earliest

Poor sanitation, bad roads, dysfunctional street lights, irregular drinking water supply, and inadequate amenities at hospitals dominated the agenda of the District Review Commitee (DRC) meeting chaired by Health Minister Vidadala Rajini at the Collectorate in Visakhapatnam on Thursday.

Mayor G. Hari Venkata Kumari, Collector A. Mallikarjuna, MPs M.V.V. Satyanarayana, and VMRDA Chairperson A. Vijaya Nirmala attended the meeting, which was the first to be held after the carving out of new districts in the State.

Pending development projects under the Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation (GVMC), Visakhapatnam Metropolitan Region Development Authority (VMRDA), Health, Housing, Panchayat Raj, Rural Water Supply, Roads & Buildings and Tourism Departments came up for discussion.

Ms. Rajani instructed officials to improve sanitation in the city, and asked the GVMC to fill up vacancies of workers.

“Terminate the agency tasked with the handling of street lights if it is found that they are not functioning properly,” Ms. Rajani, who is the Minister in-charge for the district, told GVMC Commissioner G. Lakshmisha. The Minister was also informed about the issues being faced by the public due to digging of roads for various development works, to which she asked the authorities to take up repairs quickly.

She asked the Collector and GVMC Commissioner to meet contractors and resolve their issues, and encourage them to take up further works. “During the 2022-23 fiscal, 13 road works have been taken up in the district under a budget of ₹3.82 crore,” she said.

Reviewing the functioning of the Health Department, she instructed King George Hospital (KGH) Superintendent P. Mythili to initiate action against those who encourage patients to visit private hospitals or labs for getting their medical tests done.