Police and revenue officials of both A.P. and Karnataka on Tuesday rescued about 40 migrant workers at P. Sadum village of Pedda Tippa Samudram (PTM) mandal bordering with Karnataka state, about 150 km from Chittoor, when the flood waters of Papagni river and Cherluru rivulet inundated their temporary shelters.
The workers, including women and children, are from Penugonda in Anantapur District. They keep migrating from one to another place, camping along riverbeds, cutting thorny bushes and making charcoal.
They make a living by selling the charcoal to laundry shops and petty hotels. In this backdrop, the migrant dwellers were camping on a patch of thorns on the border flanked by Papagni river on PTM mandal side, and Cheluru rivulet in Bagepalle taluq of Karnataka.
In the early hours, the flood waters from both sides inundated the workers' shelter. All of them left the waters and perched atop a brick kiln unit nearby (in Karnataka).
Alerted by villagers of surrounding hamlets in PTM mandal of Chittoor District and Bagepalle taluq of Karnataka, the police and revenue officials from both sides rushed to the spot at around 6.00 a.m., and rescued all the workers and their family members with the help of ropes and experienced swimmers by 8.00 a.m.
Sub-Collector (Madanapalle Division) A. Mallikarjuna told The Hindu that all the workers were safe and shifted to a relief center. He denied reports of the workers getting washed away in the flood waters.
