Thanks to the Yanadi tribals, drains in the Machilipatnam port town are kept clean round the year. Predicting copious rains in the coming months, the Municipal authorities have initiated a three-week drive of desilting the stormwater drains by engaging these tribals.
“The desilting of 23 km length of the storm water drainages within the Machilipatnam town will be completed by mid June. A batch of 70 workers have been deployed to complete the task through an agency,” Machilipatnam Municipality Commissioner M. Jaswath Rao told The Hindu .
“A majority of the staff engaged in desilting activity belongs to the Yanadi tribe and mode of the work is manual savaging,” confirmed Mr. Rao. The men from the tribe, known for their physical fitness, perform difficult works like desilting in the scorching heat. The desilting of storm waterdrains has been initiated on a war-footing to ensure the smooth flow of rain water in the drainages. Water logging in low-lying areas here remains a prime civic problem in Machilipatnam. Machilipatnam Municipal chairperson M. Baba Prasad is inspecting the works.
‘The men from the tribe perform difficult works like desilting in the scorching heat’