It’s a hard grind for people of habitations in and around Peddaganjam in Prakasam district, as they have to travel by country boats several times in a day for a living. Their problem gets compounded during the rainy season when the Romperu Vagu is in spate.
Pouring out their woes to The Hindu during a boat ride on a rainy day, a group of people from Peddaganjam say they have been facing untold hardship crossing the swollen rivulet, which joins the sea near Pallepalem.
A bridge across the rivulet is the demand raised by one and all in the villages on either side since Independence. But it has remained elusive with people representative promising it before polls and not doing enough to realise it after getting elected, they add.
Over 10,000 people in Peddaganjam and 10 other surrounding villages have no option but to cross the rivulet at least 10 times a day to reach their farms, aqua ponds and also visit revenue and other offices situated in Chinnaganjam, the mandal headquarters village, on the other side of the rivulet.
Flash floods are witnessed at least five to six times between September and December. Every time the rivulet is in spate, the villages remain cut off from the mandal headquarters. “At least a week's farm work is hit every time it is in spate,” laments village elder K. Bavaiah, who yearns to see the bridge during his lifetime.
While men take with them motorcycles and bicycles to move fertilizers and aqua feeds and farm implements, it is the women and the elderly who suffer the most while undertaking the arduous boat journey. After crossing the rivulet by boat, they have to walk through a marshy land before reaching the road leading to Chinnaganjam. If one is fortunate one will be able to board an autorickshaw from Rajubangarapalem to reach the mandal headqurters and from there to Chirala in case of medical emergencies and other pressing engagements, adds K. Katakshamma, sarpanch of Peddaganjam major Gram Panchayat.
Fifty boats cruise each day and do fishing. Boat owners take turns to ferry people to other side of the rivulet charging ₹10 per person, says a fisherman Edukondalu. “We used to travel by boats to reach our school in Chinnaganjam. But now our children are fortunate to study in the high school at Peddaganjam itself,” he adds.
The file relating to bridge proposal had been gathering dust till recently when the foundation stone was laid by Irrigation Minister D. Umamaheswara Rao for a ₹13.68 crore NTR Varadhi. “The bridge will be completed at any cost during 2018,” says TDP MLA from Parchur Yeluri Sambasiva Rao, who was instrumental in getting the bridge sanctioned by the State government.
