Tribal people living in the Agency villages of West Godavari district are facing flood situation even before the Godavari received monsoon flood water. Some families, living in the habitations affected by Polavaram irrigation project were shifted to the Relief and Rehabilitation (R&R) Colonies while some others moved to the hilly areas nearby.
Due to rain in the catchment areas and the closure of cofferdam, the Godavari is witnessing floods even as the water level in it at Bhadrachalam in Telangana is yet to attain the danger mark.
Communication has been cut off to many habitations as some streams swelled onto the roads on Wednesday. Officials stopped the villagers from travelling on the bund as a precautionary measure as the Kothur canal was flowing over the causeway. The police set up a picket on Kothur causeway.
Bund closed for traffic
“Water level in the Godavari is increasing by the day. Officials have prohibited vehicular traffic on the bund and alternative routes have been chalked out via Gaddapalli, Udatapalli and Gajulagondi villages to reach some habitations in Polavaram mandal,” said Kunja Lakshmi, a tribal.
The officials of revenue, irrigation, police departments, along with their counterparts in the K.R. Puram Integrated Tribal Development Agency (ITDA), were visiting the villages and monitoring the situation. Many Polavaram project evacuees were shifted to the R&R Colonies at LND Peta, Jangareddygudem, Gopalapuram and Jeelugumilli mandals. Many tribal families moved to the hilly areas at Tekuru, Thutigunta, Kothuru, Mamidigondi, Paidakula Mamidi and Vadapalli villages.
Shifting of families to the R&R Colonies were hit in some places as the floodwater submerged the roads. Heavy rains on the hilly terrains in some parts in the Agency area were also inundating the low-lying areas, the villagers said. “Works in the R&R Colonies are about to complete and the affected families would be shifted to the safer places before the floods,” said West Godavari Collector Kartikeya Misra.
ITDA Project Officer Y.V. Prasanna Lakshmi said boats and launches had been arranged to transport the villagers. Tribal people carried staples, kerosene, medicines, utensils, vegetables and other essentials to the newly erected huts on the hills.
