For the widows of the weavers at Kappaladoddi village of Guduru mandal and Pedana town, where 12 weavers committed suicide since 2013, life has hit the crossroads for there is no improvement in their living standards.
Adding misery to their lives is the indifference of leaders representing various political parties from Pedana or Machilipatnam in the general elections-2014. They have neither visited their colonies nor pledged support to them.
“Several trips made to the officials for a white ration card have yielded no results till date. I feel there is no purpose for me to cast my vote,” Perisetti Nagalaxmi, a widow, told The Hindu .
Ms. Nagalaxmi, wife of P. Dattatreya (36) who committed suicide last year, is now suffering with kidney ailment. She works on a handloom to take care of her 15-year-old daughter P. Lavanya.
Syama Kumari, wife of another weaver Somasekhar, who hanged himself last year, narrated her pathetic tale. “No political leader has visited our village. I was denied compensation from the government as we did not want to perform post mortem on my husband’s body,” she added.
Many women expressed similar opinion on the apathy of political parties towards offering help to community which is in distress even though the community formed third highest vote-bank in Pedana municipality.
“These contestants are neither attempting to interact with us nor address our issues. They even excluded us from their party manifestos”, said Kappaladoddi Weavers’ Co-operative Society member Ekkala Kotaiaya.
“We need a common weaving shed, pukka houses to the houseless families. Majority of the 400 weaving families in Kappaladoddi are still living in thatched houses,” said Yerra Veerakotamma, mother of Sadasivayya (17), who committed suicide in 2012.
However, access to safe drinking water still remains a dream for the villages but ironically every junction of the village has a liquor shop.
