Monsoon rains brought some of the most horrible moments in their lives. In the third week of this July, the rains created mayhem, leaving thousands of farmers and their families in misery in Peddapalli district.
With sand piled over hundreds of acres of agricultural fields as flood water receded, fallen trees, electric transformers uprooted, tar roads shattered, several parts of the district presented frightening and forlorn pictures.
As rainstorm hit on July 16 and 17, farmer Koteshwar’s family members huddled in their house in Khanapur village of Manthani mandal, suspecting that their agricultural fields would be ‘anyhow affected to some extent’.
When the rain god gave some respite, families of Koteshwar and other farmers of the village went to their fields only to collapse in despair. Scores of acres of their land turned into desert with sand piled up to one feet to two feet high. Part of the fields were sown with paddy seedlings and the remaining ready for sowing. All fields turned into saga of sad stories.
“Floods in 1983 were the biggest we witnessed in the last four to five decades. I was 14 years old then. Compared to that, three feet more high water hit the village fields,” says 55-year-old Putta Ramaiah. He is the husband of present Sarpanch Venkatamma. In his village alone, nearly 100 private water motor pumps installed on Godavari river bank, got washed away, and close to 20 electric transformers got damaged.
“Three massive high tension electric towers fell off, and repair works are yet to begin,” says Ramaiah.
River Godavari passes through small hills in a curve while entering Manthani mandal. Khanapur is among several villages located on the picturesque curving Godavari bank with over 1,000 population. Paddy is the main crop of the farmers in the village which is located nearly 75 kms from Karimnagar city.
At Khanapur the river is around 1,500 metre wide. During floods, the river’s backwaters at the curve storm into nearly 200-300 acres of agricultural lands belonging to different farmers. Inundation does not happen every year but the danger looms large whenever there are heavy rains, says Koteshwar.
“If the government purchases these lands from us and creates a channel, back waters can pass through these lands and check inundation of several villages located along the river bank,” says cultivator Koteshwar. Several villagers and Ramaiah support this idea.
Along with Koteshwar, several other farmers having land on this stretch are ready to give away their plots, albeit for good price! “This can save flood damages to villages such as Eklaspur, Surepalli, Vilochavaram, Potharam, Uppatla, Somanpelli and Mallepalli, they claim.
NPDCL superintending engineer Sudarshan said that stocks of transformers were ready for installation. “Repair works started and we are installing new ones wherever required,” he said. Power supply has been restored at all 68 sub-stations in Peddapalli district, he said.
Farmers of Khanapur and surrounding villagers kept their fingers crossed on what to do with their agricultural fields. There is no option but to remove the sand, use it at the ridges of the fields, till the soil and begin cultivation, said a ryot Shankaraiah.
Meanwhile, commuters are facing difficulties with serious damages to roads at some points. One of the worst hit roads is Siripuram-Velala-Mancherial road near Sundilla barrage off Parvathi pump house. This main road that connects people of Peddapalli with Mancherial district is shut for four-wheelers.
Two-wheeler riders are managing to manoeuvre through the dangerous gaps of the shattered road. “Authorities haven’t started any attempts to restore the road,” says Kumar of Manthani.
Flood water entered the Parvathi pump house in Peddapalli and the pump houses at Annaram and Medigadda coming under Jayashankar Bhupalapally district. Irrigation officials are yet to come out with the precise details of the losses and estimates for the repairs.
Bathing ghats submerged
Godavari is still in full spate at Manthani. Some of the bathing ghats are still submerged while massive poles got uprooted and retaining walls of the bank got shattered. The submergence of a the local government hospital on Manthani outskirts created a scare among people during floods.
Constructed at road level, it was prone to flooding, having been located close to the Godavari check-dam canal. Now the hospital ground floor should be used for parking and a couple of new floors be built to ensure such submergence do not recur, locals said.
