Poor bear the brunt of rain god's fury

By S. Nagesh Kumar

HYDERABAD, AUG. 25. As the swirling waters overflowing the Hussainsagar in the Twin Cities receded on Friday, the real extent of the tragedy caused to people residing along the banks of its overflow channel has begun unfolding.

Hundreds of houses built on both sides of this channel have been washed away or have collapsed. As in any natural disaster, the poor have borne the brunt of the fury of the rain God having lost their monthly rations and household items like mattresses, utensils and clothes if not their houses. The flood started at 8 p.m. on Wednesday and receded at 8 am today.

Pathetic scenes of wailing women were witnessed in the numerous colonies that line this rogue channel, a stinking drain in normal times, from Hotel Viceroy to Nallakunta and even beyond as it washed away embankments on both sides and gouged out houses from their foundations. Yellamma, 30, wife of a cycle repairer, showing her wrecked house at Arundhatinagar to the Union Minister for Urban Affairs, Mr. B. Dattatreya, said, "I have nothing left now".

Arundhatinagar, which lies between Kavadiguda and Ashoknagar, and Gandhinagar near Bagh Lingampally seems as if they have been hit by an earthquake. Houses, two to three rows deep from the canal, have collapsed burying the household articles inside. K. Lakshmi, 30, was seen drying out her ration card as well as the school progress report of her daugthers at Gandhinagar. Others were not so lucky to retrieve anything.

A grocer, Lakshminarayana, had dumped nearly 12 bags of rice, a bag each of soaked sugar, tamarind and salt besides cigarette cartons outside his shop at Gandhinagar. The water had such fury that it washed away several cars and an autorickshaw from a workshop and lodged them 50 metres away.

Hygiene has started to be a casualty as there is slush all around and no drainage. Gastroenteritis has already started to make its presence felt with the Fever Hospital admitting four cases within one hour on Friday morning.

Though it may sound cruel to emphasise this point now, the fact remains that houses in most of these colonies are illegally built. "These people are paying for the sins of Congress (I) leaders who have encouraged squatter colonies along the stretch of the canal", said Dr. K. Lakshman, BJP MLA, whose Musheerabad constituency is perhaps the worst hit in the capital by Wednesday's flood.

The victims hardly care for politics, at least for now, nor do they accept that they were willing recipients of the houses. They are seething with anger over the tardy relief. Nearly a hundred people gheraoed the Minister for Cooperation, Mr. Chikkala Ramachandra Rao, at Gandhinagar behind Fever Hospital and mouthed invectives at the Government for not giving advance warning about the flood.

The Fever Hospital remains in a mess. According to the Superintendent, Dr. K. N. Sudha Ramana, only 40 in-patients are left in two wards out of 206. The rest fled after waters from the swollen canal nearby submerged five out of the seven wards.

The Government's presence in the flood-hit areas is on a low key. Beyond feeding victims from makeshift kitchens at local community halls and in tents, the Revenue and Municipal officials seem to be hardly doing anything else such as house-to-house survey of the damage. In fact, the CPI (M)'s kitchen at Gandhinagar supervised by Mr. D. G. Narasimha Rao seemed better organised since its cadres were distributing bread as well as hot meals.

Mr. Dattatreya, who is also the local MP, estimates that nearly 10,000 people have been rendered homeless by Wednesday's floods. He is unhappy with the pace of relief work and is sore that senior officials like the MCH Commissioner and the District Collector have not yet visited the affected areas.

He suggests implementation of a Rs. 100 crore master plan for strengthening the embankment along the drainage channel at Balanagar, Begumpet, Kavadiguda, Ashoknagar, Chikkadpally, Barkatpura and resettling people living on its banks. Otherwise, there is no guarantee that such calamities will not recur.

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