People of the four Girijan mandals of Khammam district which were merged into East Godavari district after bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh are facing many problems as they found themselves to be in another State.
Kunavaram, V.R. Puram, Chintoor and Nellipaka mandals were brought under East Godavari and Kukunur, Burugumpadu and Velerupadu mandals were merged with West Godavari, to avoid complications while building the Polavaram project. Some facilities are in Khammam district which is nearer to them compared to the places in East Godavari district, which is now their own district.
Sarpanch of Abhicherla village in East Godavari district Payam Jyothi, who participated in a dharna of Girijans demanding that the government implement the Forest Rights Act in full measure, explained to The Hindu how major benefits are being denied to them.
“Our children going to school have no local status, either here or in Telangana. Some families are not getting ration. We have not received podu pattas (pattas for the land under Forest Rights Act) even though the officials completed the survey and maps were generated,” Ms. Jyothi said.
Another issue is health care. “Bhadrachalam is nearer to us and we can reach it quickly and easily. But when we go to a government hospital for treatment, they say ‘you are from Andhra Pradesh’ and the free facilities are not applicable to us. Kakinada or Rampachodavaram are far off for us.”
Funds have become a problem and officials are asking the villages to spend some amount of the fund sanctioned under XIII Finance Commission for water supply and also on CC roads, she said.
Absence of records
General secretary of AP Vyavasaya Vrittidarula Union P.S. Ajay Kumar said the villagers are also suffering because of absence of records in government offices.
The Telangana officials say the records have been handed over to AP officials but the latter claim they are not found. Due to this the functioning of Anganwadi centres, PHCs and schools is suffering and at some places the NREGS beneficiaries have not received the amount due to them.
‘Carving out separate district only way out’
Each of the four mandals merged into East Godavari is very big in size and due to this the administration is not reaching everywhere. It is better if the seven merged mandals along with adjacent mandals are made a separate district, Mr. Ajay Kumar felt.
