Residents of Pedajalaripeta who mostly belong to the fisherfolk community are forced to live amid heaps of waste. The area along the Lawson’s Bay Beach are clearly ignored by the Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation (GVMC) authorities despite numerous pleas to them to make the place habitable. Poor drainage system and accumulation of solid waste in the residential area as well as along the beach is a major cause of concern for the residents. Arisela Korlamma, who lives near the dilapidated Sri Seetharama Swamy temple, said the area has become a breeding ground for mosquitoes and attracts numerous stray animals due to the stench and uncleared waste. “We are forced to live amid such unhygienic conditions as the people’s representatives and civic officials have chosen to ignore our woes. The corporation sanitation staff visit the area only once a month to clean the waste. The situation is worse during the rainy season,” Korlamma said. Another resident Vasupalli Veerraju said, “Visakhapatnam East MLA Velagapudi Ramakrishna Babu came to our area during the elections. But all that stopped after he got elected. None of the corporation officials bother to improve the amenities in the area falling under GVMC ward number 19.” Nearly 200 families reside in Pedajalaripeta. While the men venture into the sea to catch fish, the women and children stay at home in thatched huts and small to medium concrete buildings. Apart from poor sanitation, the area does not have functional streetlights and road connectivity is bad, said P Muthyalu, owner of Gangamma Thalli fishing boat. When contacted, a GVMC official said, “We clean the area every day but the residents do not maintain the area. We have urged the residents not to defecate in the open, but they continue to do so. However, we will look in to the development of Pedajalaripeta.”