VISAKHAPATNAM: About one and a half years after the Hudhud cyclone ravaged the city, some villages of Visakhapatnam agency still wear rundown look and the local tribals await help. In a survey conducted by the Centre for Adivasi Research and Development in the four most affected villages in Araku mandal, most of the compensations have not yet reached the tribals.
Headed by Vikas Rawal of the Centre for Economic studies and Planning, the survey was conducted by a team of students from Jawaharlal Nehru University, BR Ambedkar University and Delhi University, supported by activists of Girijan Sangam. The villages surveyed include Dalapatiguda, Padagangagudi, Chittamgondi and Palamanavalasa, where about 542 people reside in a total of 132 households. The survey claimed that the response of the government in terms of rescue and rehabilitation, compensation and livelihood security were wholly inadequate.
According to the survey, though the government had partially compensated for the loss of properties and trees in a few villages, agriculture, livestock and overall livelihood were not given much attention.
About 65 per cent of houses were completely damaged in the cyclone, but compensation was disbursed only for 27 per cent beneficiaries. Meanwhile, trees were damaged in the plantations of over 40 per cent households, but just eight per cent of them were compensated, survey report read. Vikas Rawal said out of the four villages where the survey was carried out, the most affected was Palamanavalasa, which received no compensation from the government till now. The authorities have submitted the survey result to the district collector.