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Coordinator alleges caste bias at work place

The coordinator (mastri) of rod-bending workers who were killed in the soil heaps mishap at Lodge centre in Guntur district alleged bias by builder Chukkapalli Ramesh, concrete contractor N. Ramu and supervisers towards workers as they were from SC Mala caste.

Coordinator V. Prabhu Das lodged a complaint with Pattabhipuram police on late on Saturday night and police registered the complaint on Sunday. He further alleged that the workers were harassed to work during night by stopping weekly payment by the builder.

It may be recalled that builder Chukkapalli Ramesh contested from Guntur West Assembly seat on TD ticket against senior Congress leader Kanna Lakshminarayana during 2009 elections and Ramesh is still associated with the TD.

According to Mr Prabhu Das, he used to work as rod-bender and also as the coordinator of the workers. He said that he was supplying workers to concrete contractor N. Ramu for the past one year. He said that three months ago, Ramu asked the workers to work for the construction of shopping mall at Lodge Centre promoted by Phoenix Construction owner Chukkapalli Ramesh.

He said that Ramesh used to stay at the construction site and further used to give suggestions to the workers. He alleged that recently the workers, including students, used to work but as the temper. atures was very high, they asked for changing the work timings from 6 am to 1 pm and the same was followed for the past few days.

Mr. Prabhu Das said when they stopped work at 1 pm on Saturday, concrete contractor Ramu asked them to work till night, stating that the ready mix would come by night to lay concreate for pillars. He alleged that Ramu threatened about stopping the weekly payment to workers if they refuse to work, hence they rejoined work.

He alleged that two months ago some soil heaps fell from beneath the Bakery wall. He said that after noticing slipping of soil heaps from beneath the Punch Bakery’s fencing wall, they informed the builder, contractor and supervisers, but in vain, so they continued the work as no one cared, showing bias towards them due to their caste.

Mr Prabhu Das lamented that due to the negligence of the builder, supervisor and contrac. tor, the workers, including students, were buried alive beneath the soil heaps and sought legal punishment against Ramesh, Ramu and the supervisers for the
deaths.

Visakhapatnam awaits water from Tandava, Raiwada

It has been a pretty rocky road for the Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation (GVMC) in terms of water supply to households as well as bulk users, While on one hand the second-stage pumping from the Yeleru reservoir (to feed the Yeleru canal, which supplies a major share of water to the city) is on the verge of cessation, the plans of drawing about 250 cusecs of water from Tandawa and Raiwada reservoirs has not reached fruition due to the technicalities involved.

But if the water is not released from these sources, the water woes of the city would deepen in the next few days as pumping from Yeleru would come to a halt in the next three to four days.

Water scarcity has been evident in several pockets of the city and the supply from the Corporation has been reducedto every alternate day in several areas.

Presently, the officials have been drawing about 260 cusecs of water from both Godavari and Yeleru reservoir (150 cusecs through the pump house on the Godavariat Kateru and 110 cusecs from Yeleru reservoir) against the targeted 300 cusecs as part of the summer action plan. But if pumping from the Yeleru reservoiris stopped, the availability of water drawn from the Yeleru canal would be reduced to about 150 cusecs.

The Raiwada canal has been supplying about 27 MGD water to the city. To compensate the decreased water availability from other water sources, the officials have proposed to draw about 150 cusecs of water from the Raiwada reservoir as well as 100 cusecs from Tandava reservoir, which again feed the Yeleru canal.

Speaking to this corre. spondent Superintending Engineer (Water Supply), GVMC. S. Amanda Rao, await water Su from both Tandava and Raiwada reservoirs. Though 250 cusecs of water is expected from these two sources, officials said only 120 cusecs would be released.

Note : At present, 250 cusecs being drawn from Godavari, Yeleru against a target of 300.

Buildings near collapsed wall in Guntur cordoned

The adjacent buildings to the mall under construction which collapsed were on the edge of collapse at Guntur.

The Guntur Municipal Corporation (GMC) closed the adjacent Punch Bakery as a precautionary measure and directed the neighbourers to vacate the two buildings to restrain further damage. The GMC officials led by commissioner S. Nagalakshmi conducted checks at the construction site to restrain the retaining wall and soil heaps collapse incidents for the past two days.

GMC commissioner S. Nagalakshmi, engineers and police officials inspected the retaining wall collapsed site. They observed seeping of water into the shopping mall construction site from the adjacent restaurant. The drainage was blocked in the restaurant and the water was overflowing into adjacent areas.

The officials directed to close the restaurant immediately and to vacate furniture shop, Education Plus consultancy, Tipsy-Topsy readymade shop and cable office due to soil erosion from beneath the foundation of the Aashrith Complex. The shop owners are worried over the seeping of the water from beneath the foundation and planning to shift the material as a precautionary measure.

They lamented that they will not get shops instantly which would effect their livelihood. They said that they are consulting engineerstoresolve the seepage and strengthen the foundation.

Ms Naglakshmi conducted inspections in Rajagopal Nagar and Cobalt Peta in Guntur city. She said that water seepage and stagnation will be not be allowed in the construction sites and the GMC will continuously monitor the construction sites for the strict implementation of the safety norms. She directed the owners, builders and promoters of all under-construction buildings to construct the structures accordingto plan after conducting soil test, to display the approved plan and warned about stern action against security norms violating structures.

Meanwhile, the three member inquiry committee appointed to probe the collapse of retaining wall of under construction shopping mall at Guntur conducted structural stability tests and other investigations at the construction site at Guntur on Tuesday.

The committee members Anjaneya Prasad, Venu Prasanna and J. Srinivas Rao led by Guntur Municipal Corporation city planner, Dhanunjaya Reddy and Professor of Siddhartha Engineering College, Dr. Panduranga Rao visited the construction site.