CSOs seek resolution to key civic issues in Ongole

As Ongole municipality will celebrate its 150th anniversary on September 30, the leaders of Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) have brainstormed on various public issues during a round-table meeting organised under the aegis of the City Development Committee (CDC) at LBG Bhavan in Ongole on Tuesday. They have discussed on the city’s development, civic issues and possible solutions.

Speakers at the round-table meet include CDC President Marella Subbarao, CDC General Secretary T. Bhakta Singh Raju, and Federation of Town Citizens’ Associations district leader Chikati Srinivasa Rao. They called for a discussion on development and public issues.

They criticised that no measures had been taken to resolve the public’s core issues except few initiatives such as painting flyovers and ring roads, planting saplings, and installing statues of leaders. Instead of wasting lakhs of rupees on festivities, it would be better to allocate those funds toward addressing the problems faced by the people, they suggested.

The speakers demanded that key agencies in the city must resolve drinking water issues, construct underground drainage system, clear sewage and build the retaining walls on both sides of Pothuraju Canal, lay ring road on west Ongole, construct cement roads and drainage channels in the outlying colonies, establish more schools and colleges, and set up industries to provide jobs for local youth.