Situation in drought-hit A.P. districts worsens

By Dasu Kesava Rao

HYDERABAD, MAY 5. A leading Telugu daily today frontpaged a cartoon that describes the travails of the people in the drought- affected areas of Andhra Pradesh. It shows a woman posting a letter to her husband telling him not to worry about her whereabouts. She is waiting her turn in a long queue before a tap that is yet to open. The prolonged dry spell has left the earth scorched, wells dried up and groundwater level plummeting. People are willing to give anything or go anywhere for a pot of drinking water, regardless of the blistering heat.

In the chronically drought-prone Anantapur district, reports say villagers of Dagguparthi take a bus to Bediguppa or Y. Ramapuram, paying Rs. 4 as fare, to fetch drinking water. People of Ghanapur in Patancheru mandal in Medak shell out Rs. 50 for a tanker of water, but harijanwadas do not get it. Water is supplied only once in six days in the mandal town of Badepally in Mahbubnagar.

Sheep and goat are taken 12 to 15 km. for grazing. Twenty-five to 30 lorry-loads of cattle are carted off from Madanapalle town to Karnataka every day. The problem is compounded by power cuts, low voltage and uncertainty about supply. In many villages, life is totally dislocated with people waiting round-the-clock at the well for power supply. In Kerelli and Kapulapuram in Ranga Reddy district, more than two-thirds of the electric motors have burnt out, some even three to five times, and all but five of the 140 wells have dried up.

The able-bodied men and women in different places have apparently migrated in search of work, while the old and the very young have been left to fend for themselves. A third of the population (6000) of D. Honnur in Anantapur district reportedly migrated. So have three-quarters of the population in a lambada thanda in Medak district. Perika Kasaiah, sarpanch of Anantaram village near Nalgonda, himself migrated to the district headquarters in search of work.

The State unit of the CPI(M) despatched teams to the affected districts last week to assess the severity of the drought as well as the implementation of relief works.

It warned that continued neglect could lead to desertification of Anantapur district. This has already happened in 40 villages in Kannekal, Brahmasamudram, Bommanahal and Belaguppa mandals. Burgeoning sand dunes may make Meenahalli, Malyam, Nagepally and other villages also almost inhabitable in the near future, it warned.

The team contends that the situation is bad enough to warrant opening of gruel centres in critical areas, a practice that has not been in vogue for at least a quarter century.

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Section  : Regional
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