Bhadrachalam residents fume at delay in flood relief
KHAMMAM: Though Godavari flood waters are receding at Bhadrachalam, the Bhadradri-Kothagudem district administration has not withdrawn the third flood warning as the officials expect the river would rise once again. At present, the flood water level is 50.90 ft (second flood warning). The third flood warning is given at 53 ft.
According to official sources, Bhadrachalam would receive around 10 lakh cusecs in the next two days. There were heavy rains in Chhattisgarh, they said, adding that they are expecting that six lakh cusecs of water would come from Hasti and another three to four lakh cusecs from Kusuma in Chhattisgarh. Both Hasti and Kusuma are gauging points.
Ramalayam, Nithya Annadanam Satram, Chaptadiguva, and Kalyanamandapam area are still marooned as the lifting of flood water and pumping it away is going on very slowly. Many villages in both Bhadrachalam and Pinapaka divisions are still underwater and people are going through a nightmarish experience at shelters.
People living in the temple area have been facing untold hardships for the last one week. Kuricheti Srinivas, a resident near the temple said: “If we are in water even today, it is because of the negligence and irresponsibility of the officials.”
The victims are unhappy that there is an inordinate delay in the officials reaching out to them. “Though we gave an account of our travails to the district minister and the collector, no help has come. The flood waters continue to leak into the premises of the temple through the flood embankment. Hundreds of residents of temple area are worried over their belongings which they had left when flood waters entered their homes,” said Ramu, a resident of Chaptadiguva, and alleged that the administration failed to lift water.
Meanwhile, flood victims are cleaning their houses in areas where flood waters have receded. K Laxmi, resident of Ayyappa Colony said: “All our household articles have been washed away. We are cleaning the mud that has piled up in our house. We are very hungry but we have nothing to eat. With empty stomachs, we are trying to clean up our houses.”
There seems to be no correlation between the government’s claims and what is happening at the ground level. Says M Sudhakar, resident of Subashnagar colony: ‘’We have been watching on TV and reading in newspapers that a number of teams are on the job to help the victims remove mud and silt from their homes. But we do not see anyone and we have to fend for ourselves.’’
Meanwhile, the officials are air-lifting essential commodities and are dropping them in flood-affected areas in Dummagudem and Cherla mandals as they remain cut off with roads having come under sheets of water.