Merged mandals face drinking water woes

Rajamahendravaram: People living in the Agency area in the four mandals that were merged in East Godavari district after bifurcation of the State are facing acute water shortage as streams and wells on which they depend have mostly gone dry.
Borewells are not working in most of the tribal hamlets due to lack of maintenance.
East Godavari Agency consists of 11 mandals including 183 village panchayats and 977 habitats with a population of 3.46 lakh people. As per records, there are 417 protected water schemes of the Rural Water Supply and Tribal welfare departments and 6,343 hand pumps.
But, at the ground level, the conditions are grave as most of the borewells are not in working condition. There is no single mechanic for these four mandals. In Kakuru village of Pamuleru panchayat in Maredumilli mandal in which 150 tribals are living, the people have to reach down to the dying stream 100 feet below to get water where tiny lagoons are there.
They are using that water for drinking, washing clothes and to quench the thirst of the cattle. Pandu Reddy, village head said that they have an overhead tank in the village, but, the villagers are forced to depend on the small stream which has already dried up.
In Kotarugumma village of Vara Ramachandra Puram mandal, water from River Godavari flows like a small stream and the villagers have to walk two kilometres on riverbed in scorching heat to get water from remaining small pools.
They are expressing fear that Godavari which is the only water source may dry out this year due to extreme weather conditions.
Similar situation prevails at Gopalapuram village in Chinturu mandal. Tribals have to walk for at least five kilometres in jungle to fetch water from a stream in which small lagoons exist. They have to make many trips to the stream every day as they have to get water for their cattle too. Midium Lakshmi of the village said that their future is looking bleak this summer as the stream may dry out any time due to extreme heat conditions. She observed that men prefer toddy to quench their thirst instead of wasting precious water.
The situation is no different at Sunnam Matka, a habitat in V R Puram mandal, which is close to Chhattisgarh where Gothi Koya tribe people who migrated from Chhattisgarh are taking shelter.
These people have no water source except a small stream as there is no single borewell in the village due to the objections of the forest department. Agriculture and Social Development Society (ASDS) has provided a well for these people.
Now, these underprivileged tribals are struggling to cope up with the scorching summer as the stream has dried up and very small quantity of water is remaining in the well. They are depending on the last murky drops of water left in the well. Sodi Deva of the village said the well has gone dry already and they have to walk for many miles to get water in coming days. V Gandhi Babu, Director, ASDS, told The Hans India that the officials, particularly on the ground level, failed completely to assess the situation in the Agency area, particularly in the merged mandals.
He maintained that poor tribals were suffering due to poor planning of the official machinery. He explained that repair works to the borewells and cleaning of overhead tanks were not taken up.

Samson Raj