Bhadrachalam losing lustre

Bhadrachalam: Post-bifurcation, it appears both the Telugu-speaking states and even the Central government have completely forgotten the development of Bhadrachalam and totally ignored the displaced Adivasi people under the Polavaram project.

During the separate state movement, Telangana leaders demanded that Bhadrachalam should remain with Telangana. After the formation of Telangana, the TRS government is concentrating more on Yadadri by allotting Rs 100 crore for its development than on Bhadrachalam. On the other hand, since Bhadrachalam remained in Telangana, the AP government started developing Ontimitta Srirama temple in Kadapa. Due to the negligence, the world famous Sitaramachandra Swamy temple of Bhadrachalam which is described as Dakshina Ayodhya is slowly losing its prominence.

However, the seven mandals in Khammam district which were merged in East Godavari district in Andhra Pradesh due to the submersion threat under Polavaram project were also totally neglected by both the governments.

The people of these seven mandals since bifurcation are not receiving any benefits of welfare schemes. The temple employees admit that the number of devotees visiting the temple has been trickling down by the day. The petty traders who make out a living on the temple premises lament that there was no business due to the poor turnout of pilgrims. Panja Suresh, one of the traders, said that after bifurcation the number of pilgrims has come down considerably.

Even the big businesses in the town are also facing the same situation. One of the prominent traders, Bachhu Sreenu said that the business has come down by 60 to 80 per cent for the last 15 months.

Some traders are even facing difficulty to pay rent to their shops, he added. People of Charla, Venkatapuram and Vajedu mandals are going to Warangal, since Pusuru bridge was completed in Vajedu mandal while people from Chinturu and Vara Ramachandrapuram are going to Rajahmundry for business transactions, he pointed out.

Interestingly, there is no demand for houses of late. There used to be high rental value for the houses on par with Hyderabad. Now a number of people left the town for greener pastures and there are hardly any takers for the houses on rent. One could witness ‘To Let’ boards on a number of houses in the town. It is estimated that nearly 800 houses are vacant in the town. Srirangam Satish Kumar, a house owner, said that he never displayed the ‘To Let’ board at his house in the past. Now there are no takers for his houses on rent for the last eight months, he added.

Moreover, several governments offices including R&B Executive Engineer office, Irrigation department workshop, Pratibha school, Adarsh Polytechnic college and Forest office were shifted from Bhadrachalam. Consequently, the employees of all the offices and institutions have also shifted their base.

In addition, the Integrated Tribal Development Agency has been run by an in-charge officer for the last 15 months.

By:P V Satyanarayana