Despite a history of more than 150 years as a municipality and later as corporation, development continues to elude the city of Guntur. Worse, the plight of residents has multiplied since the launch of Under Ground Drainage works in March 2017.
Guntur Municipality was formed in the year 1866, upgraded to Grade III municipality in 1891, first grade in 1917, special grade in 1952 and selection grade in 1960. The city was later upgraded as a municipal corporation in 1994.
The city, which has been a trading and commercial hub since the 18th century, witnessed tremendous development after Independence.
By the year 1967, the city had a Railway over Bridge (RoB) at Arundelpet, the first of its kind in the State, opened by former Chief Minister Neelam Sanjeev Reddy, the first sports stadium Brahmananda Reddy Stadium (1964), an inner ring road, a vegetable market named after PVK Naidu, and a park named after Mahatma Gandhi opposite the GMC office. But over the last two decades, development has come to a standstill.
Traffic continues to be a major issue as the city is dotted with numerous railway crossings. The absence of a public transport system forces people to depend on autorickshaws. The Arundelpet RoB continues to be the only bridge connecting One Town to Two Town. A grand plan to build a flyover from the market centre to Lakshmipuram remains on paper.
The city is represented well in the State Cabinet, but no efforts have been made to develop it. Worse, the city was in the news after 22 people died of gastroenteritis in April.
“Guntur continues to be neglected even after the bifurcation. Political parties, which promised to make this city a Singapore, forgot about the sacrifices made by people of the rural belt who parted with their land to facilitate construction of Capital city. During the last four years, not even a single road over bridge, sports stadium nor a park has been constructed,’’ rues LSN Prasad, a former professor of Economics, ANU.