Heavy rains continue to disrupt life in the Agency areas of the district. Several roads, culverts, and bridges that connect the interior areas with the plains have been damaged.
Interior mandals in Paderu, Munchingput, and G.K. Veedhi are the worst-hit.
With Chintapalle and Dumbriguda mandals too receiving heavy rains for the last one week, scores of tribal habitations have lost road connectivity.
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Road transport to villages in Hukumpeta, Paderu, and Munchingput mandals has been disrupted as bridges and culverts at Bisaiputtu, Peddagaruvu, and Surimetta have been washed away. Many roads have been damaged in G. Madugula and Munchingput mandals. On Thursday, water started to flow on the roads at Chintapalle, disrupting traffic on the Visakhapatnam-Bhadrachalam stretch. The Matsyagedda stream has been overflowing in Pedabayalu for the last one week. “Efforts are under way to restore road network on a war-footing,” Paderu Sub-Collector G. Venkateswar has said.
As road connectivity is disrupted, many tribals are finding it difficult to reach hospitals for medical assistance. Pregnant women, in particular, are facing a lot of hardship.
On September 11, a pregnant women at Vallai village of Paderu mandal had to be shifted to the Minumuluru Primary Health Centre (PHC), which is over 5-km away, in a ‘doli’ because an ambulance could not reach the village as the road was damaged.
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“Several pregnant women are being brought to hospitals with the help of ASHA workers after knowing about their Expected Date of Delivery (EDD). Special rooms have been arranged for them at the Araku area hospital,” DMHO, Visakhapatnam, S. Tirupathi Rao, has said. “A few pregnant women are refusing to come to the hospital before the EDD. However, we are convincing them to shift to the PHCs as a precautionary measure,” he says.
“Keeping in view the heavy rains, we have stocked medicines, IV fluids, and vaccines in the PHCs well in advance,” he adds.
RTC services
The APSRTC, on the other hand, has not stopped its services completely. “The buses are short-terminated if roads are damaged,” says Regional Manager M.Y. Danam.
“Yesterday, boulders fell on the Visakhapatnam-Bhadrachalam route. It took three hours to restore normalcy,” he says. In a laudable initiative, the Rural police came forward to restore a road stretch that was completely damaged near the Peddaputtu area in Munchingput mandal. Paderu Circle Inspector Ch. Prem Kumar and personnel from Munchingput helped in temporary restoration of the road.