Slum Dwellers and Houses:

My Observation:

In this Bangarupeta the slum dwellers are having pucca houses, cement concrete buildings every
small and big structure is built by cement and its related products, usually when we come across any
slums we find filthy huts, thatched roofs, dry vegetations such as straw, palm fronds, semi wooden
houses, Roof with asbestos sheets or metal sheets etc irrespective of the nature of its use. It might be
used for residential or non-residential purpose or both or even might be vacant but in here in these two
settlements (i.e.,) Bangarupeta and Kalluru slums they are bit different in nature these slums are very
developed and having pucca houses and cement concrete buildings with floors, I have seen double
stored buildings in this area specially in Bangarupeta ward no 40 and 42

Respondent statement: Respondent of that area said that, I have a pucca house which was
constructed 10 years before but, before that we used to live in mud houses but later on with the with
the help of TDP leaders and their representatives helped us regarding government schemes.

Religion and Caste: In Bangarupeta while probing these questions I was careful. According the age
and their I probed the question so that I can avoid the bad consequences. In Bangarupeta I
interviewed nearly 40 in that 19 were from backward castes (BC) like Padmashaali, mangali, chakali,
Raajus, Golla, and Yadavas etc. 3Christians, 3Muslims, 1General remaining14 were SC categories

I interviewed 40 household in that majority of them said that we never had any religious conflicts,
we dont have any differences, no caste discriminations, no feeling of superiority or inferiority among
us we have a feeling of solidarity and oneness .

I interviewed 19 female respondents and 21 male respondents in Bangarupeta. In this 7 respondents

are government employees (i.e.,) Grade-D employees, and reaming respondents private employees,
own-business and agricultural labourers.

Out of 7 household 1 respondent who is working with BHEL Hyderabad as a Maser technician, he
said that:

I am working with BHEL Hyderabad as a master technician, I have four children and they got
married, I have a green card facility for getting ration items (PDS) in that i used to get 1kg of
sugar,3kgs of wheat and 2 litres of oil and after my retirement I became a white card holder. And
also with the help of employment card am able to access hospitals and free medicine, this card is
meant for me and for my family .

Origin of Bangarupeta Slum:

When I was probing to the respondents regarding origin of the Bangarupeta slum, in that 10
respondents whose age is above 50 years said that:

According to our parents who told us about the origin of this (Basti) settlement (i.e.,) Bangarupeta ,
40 years before Ex-collector of this district called Bangaraiah who supported us, he stood with us in
all kind of matters, with his support we got all kind of civic amenities like Drinking water facility,
Drainage system, sanitation, garbage, schools health and medical facility as well .

Living condition: In Bangarupeta the slum dwellers exceptionally having healthy environment. There
are no serious problems in this settlement except the problem of shikaari tribes, nobody knows
about their origin and settlement. They stay interior part of the Bangarupeta, their language, dialectic
and accent is bit different in comparison with other dwellers in that area. While interviewing with the
respondents I met with one shikaari tribe his age is 60 years. I casually asked him about their origin ,
settlements, occupations and religion etc for this he said that ,they are the migrants of Karnataka state,
even he also dont know about the exact details of them but as per his knowledge he has shared some
information regarding their origin and lifestyle etc. Earlier these tribes were considered as thieves and
called as Gantichore. In tribes they are called as professional thieves.

My age is 60 years, I have only little information regarding these people, as per my knowledge I
know them since 50 years , at that time they were in less number but later on gradually their strength
has increased, now they dominates us. In my child hood I used to play with them, I have a little
knowledge about their origin , customs and tradition etc .Now these people very actively involved in
preparation of Gudumba, selling them, stealing household items like buckets, cloths, steel items ,steel
plates, spoon, chapplas etc. Damaging our vehicle seats, removing air from tyres and breaking
headlights etc are some of the mischievous activities which they regularly do. They want to create
terror among us o that is the reason here, nobody talks with them and we have a very mechanical
relationship with these people.

At present these tribes are very much engaged in preparation of Gudumba, selling black tickets and
stealing of household stuffs of surrounding areas etc they even quarrels with other neighbours who are
staying beside of them. Many a times government authorities, Police officials and political party
leaders warned them regarding their activities but still they maintain their illicit activities,

The concentration of people in this area where the provision of water, sanitation ,Solid waste deposits,
garbage collection and health care is adequate in nature , As I interviewed 40 respondents in that
nobody has complained about any sort of civic problem.

Roads and infrastructure facilities: In Bangarupeta they have congested cement concrete less than
10ft. Wide roads, these are single lane roads and can be termed as one-way traffic roads or very
narrow alleys.

Open drainage system which is adjacent to the residence. I interviewed 40 respondents they said that
they have adequate cleaning system twice for every 10 to 15 days the municipal workers cleans the
drainage. They have routine drain clean system, repairs, removal of blockages etc .Once these
dwellers complained about the open drain system for that municipal official and their workers reacted
immediately and took action on this issue, they resolved this problem by covering open drain with
concrete slabs. And for cleaning this drains sometimes these dwellers pay minimum amount for them
that varies according to the occasions that is for festival and religious activities they pay Rs-5 or 10/-
per head, or offer tea from their end.

As per respondents information, overall they said that, the main work of a municipalities to provide
better civic amenities to the public in the limits of the Kurnool municipal corporation. Such as Town
Planning approvals, providing of Roads and Drains, Public Health, Sanitations, Conservancy, Water
Supply, Education and Solid Waste Managements, Slums improvements and Up gradation and Urban
Poverty elevation etc they have much faith on the municipalities rather than the political parties.

Drinking water facility: In this settlement out of 40 respondents 36 pays water bill Rs-100/- in that
one respondent who pays Rs-60per month and remaining respondents they fetch water from
Municipal taps.

We pay Rs-600/ for every six months, usually bill generates for every 6 months or sometimes 1 year
this kollaipannu is a big amount for us earlier we use to pay Rs-60/month but after formation new
political party the water bill has raised.
Political parties and Department personnels:

In Bangarupeta, municipal councillors, municipal commissioners and other political leaders actively
involves in public grievances. Out of 40 respondents 18 supported TDP, 11 supported YSRCP, I
congress and 10 Not disclosed about their view regarding political parties and said that:

we can provide you the basic details of your interview questions but we cannot give you the political
parties details because we dont know about you, who are you and for whom you are working etc , we
already having a fear of these shikaari and political party people if they come to know about this
they take it in another way and start fighting with us.

Telugu Desam party people and their representatives has influenced us for taking payments in the
form of cash, goods and services etc, they also distributed liquors and cash amount Rs -500/-per
head, cash which was distributed to everyone in our area and that is their main bribing activity in
politics, handing cash to layman according to the voters list .

While coming for political campaigning, these political party people and their representatives have
a voter list in their hands and according to that list they distribute the cash, liquor and cash also
depends and varies from person to person and party to party. TDP has distributed Rs-500 for us
where as YSRCP handed cash Rs-500 along with liquor.

A political candidate knows that who favours to whom according to that they fill the pockets of lay
man. 10 respondents said that we vote for money even if we dont demand also they insist us to take
money and vote them.

At the time of election we get the bribes from political parties, in the form of cash, goods or services
etc are one of the regular form to attract us in their trap. And we also expect some bribes from them
that is from political parties and candidates, they go for a false promises and find various ways to
satisfy our needs and expectations. At the time of elections these political candidates visits regularly
to our places, in that YSRCP toured rigorously and did padhayathra announced about various
welfare activities and schemes. However, in our group or area, people know about the political
condition and their promises so we normally take the cash or bribes which they offer us and we vote
to those who are really a calibre and worth full person.

And out 40 household 7 said that, instead of having faith on these political it is best to put hope on
department personnels at least they have fear of public , they listen our grievances and try to solve
our problems. In our area once district collector came for inspection and reprimanded the officials
for failing to answer his queries regarding civic amenities like drainage problem, road problem and
drinking water problem etc are some of the issue on which we complained with that the municipal
officials and workers started working effectively.

Among these respondents, majority of them appreciated the working condition of municipalities and
their workers.

NGOs: I interviewed 40 respondents among these respondents nobody has given the details regarding
NGOs and their activities so for this I took special interest and enquired about NGOs in municipal
office there they said that some NGOs working in these area but we dont know the about their names
and activities.

In our area, we never heard about such organization they never approached us, we never had any
work with them, but we came know this through television and radio .
Accessing of Middle men:

Out of 40 respondents no one informed me about the middlemen or Madhya varthi in any aspect in
their area. As they have their own groups on various aspects such as podhupu lakshmi , podhupu
snagham, Self Help groups and DWACRA sangams who helps them in getting various information.
on governmental schemes, policies and programmes.

Out of 40 respondents 33 stated that we need better quality of life , better drainage facility , drinking
water facility , public health, and Education etc.

Political party people and part representatives and their candidates must focus on our problem such
as slums improvement; they should focus on poverty elevation activities etc.

In our area mostly panchayat personnels and counsellor acted very affectively in disseminating the
information, especially we got to know about the ration card, , widow pension and old age pensions

DWACRA sangham people helped us in getting information on savings, Ration card , health
education and sanitation starting own business, motivating women candidates in social activities and
resolving conflicts and problems among our community are some of the main function of them they
also educate us about the social condition and life style.

In our Basti, in the name of Middlemen no-body has visited but we have our own groups like
podhupulakshmi, podhupu sangham, SHGsMahila sangham who acted as a middlemen and they
helped us in getting information. Municipal counsellors at the time of flood they helped us in
supplying books, cloths eatable items and house hold items etc. Local leaders, political people and
their representatives helps in providing information on election such as to whom to vote, why to vote,
what is the benefit of voting to the particular .

Through janmabhoomi program, we got to know about the Ration-card facility, TDP party and
their representatives helped in getting this. Local level meetings of group leaders of political parties
and their member provis a platform for our us to articulate our problems and remove the barriers
with government official.