ELURU: For the past seven days, the people of nearly 48 villages in two mandals of Polavaram submergence areas have been spending sleepless nights without power supply and proper relief from the government.
With their villages completely cut off from the outside world and no alternative livelihood option, they are waiting for government help, which is proving futile. Though the authorities claimed that relief material had reached the flood-affected people, the situation in villages is completely different.
Most of the people in 48 villages of two mandals of Polavaram and Velerupadu go to nearby towns and cities everyday for work. With the road connectivity completely cut off, they are forced to stay at home for the past one week. “The entire village plunges into darkness by night. Our lives are at the mercy of god. Not a single official has visited our village. We are helpless and the only thing we can do is pray for the water to recede,’’ K Raghuram, a resident of Repakagumma agency area told TNIE.
Though district authorities claimed that relief centres for the flood victims have been set up, the fact is that just 51 families have so far been shifted to these camps. According to information reaching here, though the officials admitted that seasonal diseases like dengue and diarrhoea were spreading in the flood-hit areas, no measures were taken to shift the affected to the public health centres.
There were also allegations that essential commodities such as rice and kerosene were supplied only to the villages where the district collector visited on Friday. “No medical camp has been set up in our village even though several people are suffering from diseases. Officials have reached out to only Kotkur and Koyila while there are several other villages which have been cut off from the outside world,’’ K Chinnaiah of Repakagumma alleged.
Submerged in flood water, Kotkur and Koyila are the worst affected in the area. Some of the families of these two villages have been shifted to relief camps while others have chosen to stay back. “We are in urgent need of medical assistance as seasonal and water-borne diseases are spreading. Neither has any medical camp been set up nor has a medical team visited our village,’’ complained a resident of Rudramakota.
Asked about complaints of lack of power supply and non-supply of relief material to a majority of villages, joint collector Venugopal Reddy said adequate relief material was made available and action would be taken against officials if allegations were found to be true. “There are 5,750 affected families and we provided food to 2,500 families. We are making arrangements to provide food to the remaining 3,250 families by Monday,’’ the joint collector said.
Generators will also be rushed to the villages, he assured.Venugopal Reddy added that vegetables would be provided to people in the affected villages and one medical camp for two villages would be set up.
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