Residents of Mangal thanda were keen to vote in the gram panchayat elections on Wednesday, but there was a risk. They had to cross a stream to reach Suripelli village to exercise their franchise.
Many able-bodied people crossed the Yelgur stream passing through the hamlet, using inflated truck tubes while others stayed back. For decades, the residents of the thanda have been demanding a causeway or a bridge over the stream, but in vain.
Bhanoth Jamli, a woman said their hamlet is under Suripelli gram panchayat and they have to go there to collect their pensions, rations and other necessities, just 3 km across the stream. The only alternate route is a circuitous one. First to Nekkonda mandal headquarters, 6 km away, and then to Suripelli, another 9 km from there. Not many can afford the 14-km round trip owing to poverty and lack of proper transport facility. Not even local autos ply there — a common means of transport in the area — owing to bad roads.
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“We have more trouble during rainy season when the stream overflows. Several people from our hamlet got washed away by the current in the past,” said Bhukhya Vinay, a SSC student belonging to the thanda.
The hamlet has about 50 families and there is no proper approach road even from Nekkonda mandal headquarters. Residents say they have been asking every political leader and official for a road and a bridge across the stream but their pleas have fallen on deaf ears.
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Bhanoth Somla, a farmer said several times their plight has been highlighted by the media as well but nothing came of it. “Every time we see media people coming here to help us but nothing happened till date,” he said.
The stream flows from Yelgur near Warangal and down towards Khammam. During the monsoons it swells threatening lives of Mangal thanda residents. They remain locked up deprived of rations and pensions that are issued only at Suripelli village on the other side of the stream. Its a short distance but a long disconnect.