Nandyal (Andhra Pradesh): 85-year-old
Yasam Ramachandra Reddy died of brief illness in his native
village Rayapadu near here on October 5.
He was, however, cremated only late yesterday as his
body was caught for over four days in a heavy pool of flood
waters from the Kundu river, which flows from Kurnool district
to neighbouring Kadapa and merges with the Penna river.
And there lies a tale of absence of administration and
utter lack of succour to the thousands of those affected by
the worst floods in over a century that devastated this part
of Rayalaseema and downstream Krishna and Guntur districts in
Andhra Pradesh.
"Reddy had age-related health complications but with
the village remaining marooned there was no way we could take
him to a hospital or provide necessary medicines.
"He suffered for two days and ultimately died on
October 5. We could cremate his body only late yesterday after
the flood started receding," Ramachandra's close relative
Narayana Reddy said.
Ramachandra is not not a case in isolation as there
are many people in villages like Bandi Atmakuru, Santa Juturu,
Paramaturu and Bhimavaram, who had lost all access to medicare
because of the deluge caused by river Kundu.
"Not a single medical team visited any of these
villages after the flood despite outbreak of viral fevers and
other water-borne diseases," former minister Md Farook told a
visiting agency correspondent today.
The floods in Kurnool district, which left major
towns like Kurnool, Nandyal, Mantralayam and Adoni inundated
for several days, have clearly exposed the lack of
co-ordination among the government departments in carrying out
relief works and providing succour to the victims.
A lot of damage was already done by the time relief
started coming in. State ministers and officials faced the ire
of anguished villagers at many places and even in Kurnool town
for leaving them in the lurch.
Not just medicare, the flood-hit villagers even had
no access to safe drinking for the past four days. "We are in
the midst of water but there is not a drop to drink," rued
Madarbi of Bandi Atmakuru.
Though food packets were air-dropped for these
villagers, it suffered from quality. "As they say 'hunger
knows no taste' we had to live with whatever little we got,
Madarbi said.
Initially, reaching the trapped villagers even by
boats proved daunting because of the surging water but
activists of various political parties swung into action to
provide biscuits and other food stuff to those caught in the
misery.
"The administration simply did nothing about these
hapless villagers. Till date, not a single medical team came
visiting despite tall claims by the government," Farook
alleged.
Andhra Pradesh Rural Development Principal Secretary
K Raju, who has been posted as the Special Officer to oversee
flood relief operations in Kurnool district, admitted that
there was a lapse in sending medical teams to the flood-hit
villages.
In fact, Raju lost his cool at a review meeting
late on Wednesday night and pulled up the Kurnool district
medical and health officer Srinivasa Rao and other health
officials for remaining indifferent to the situation and
warned them of serious disciplinary action.
"We are now getting special medical teams from
Hyderabad and sending them to affected villages in 50
vehicles," said Raju.
He said drinking water supply too became a big
problem as the infiltration wells inside river Kundu, from
which the water is sourced to the villages, got damaged in the
flood.
"We have to rebuild the infiltration wells so as to
restore drinking water supply. As a stop-gap arrangement we
are now sen ding drinking water in 100 tankers to the
flood-ravaged villages," the Special Officer said.
The Hyderabad Metropolitan Water Supply and
Sewerage Board Managing Director M T Krishna Babu said they
had dispatched over 50 tankers with drinking water to Kurnool
while many more would also be sent to meet the requirements of
the flood-ravaged town.
Bureau Report
First Published: Thursday, October 08, 2009, 20:29