Kasula Satyanarayana Sharma is busy at Vemulaghat village of Toguta mandal on Saturday. He offered his last prayers at a temple in about 500 yards from his house, as he was given time till 4 p.m. to vacate the village.
Vemulaghat is one of the eight villages that would get submerged under the Mallannasagar reservoir.
Mr. Sharma was a teacher and used his retirement benefits to construct this temple along with a Kalyana mandapam. But, on Saturday, he had to bid adieu to it.
His son Gopala Krishna Murthy was busy shifting household items to transport vehicles lined up in front of their house.
“We are the last ones to vacate this village. Officials told us that water would be released into the Mallannsagar on Sunday or in the next 3-4 days. Every house in the village was demolished. Once we leave, our house will meet the same fate,” Mr. Sharma told The Hindu .
He said that his great grandfather belonged to this village and since then, the family continued staying there. They had lost seven acres to the project.
For the last few days, the authorities made every effort to make sure all villagers vacated or face consequences.
“Water and power supply are already cut. One can see only debris but no human being. Though we are supposed to be paid for the demolished structures, officials told us that we will get the money only after we vacate the village,” said P. Janardhan Reddy, another oustee who vacated the village at the last moment and had to leave some belongings in the house.
Almost all the structures at Vemulaghat and Etigaddakishtapur were demolished on Saturday.
