Kothagudem: 200 villages ‘isolated’ from state

KOTHAGUDEM: Constituting new districts is easy for the government, state people of 200 habitations in Bhadradri-Kothagudem district.

But lack of infrastructure in the new districts is proving to be an issue for the people living in the district.

The Bhadradri-Kothagudem district was announced two and a half years back. But, to date, people living in this district have no access to their district headquarters in Kothagudem.

Many of the 200 habitations in Bhadradri-Kothagudem district that is essentially covered with vast reserved forests are scattered in Allapalli, Gundala, Annapureddypalli, Mulakalapalli, Dummugudem, Pinapaka and Mulakapalli mandals. Since there is no proper access to district headquarters in Kothagudem, villagers from these mandals find it difficult to reach the general hospital there.

With the result, there have been reports of several deaths of patients (pregnant women and those who were bitten by snakes) who have not been able to reach on time to the hospital.

Interestingly, the literacy rate in these remote villages is high as compared to the villages that have road connectivity.

But parents hesitate to send their children to schools located in other villages due to lack of road access. Laying of two roads is of paramount importance in these habitations so that the people in these villages can reach their headquarters easily.

One of these roads is Allapalli to Anisettipalli and the other is Annapureddipalli to Penagadapa.

The road and buildings department evolved a plan and sent the proposals to the government one year back. But there has been no approval from the government so far.

But the benefits of these two roads will be tremendous as the people can come to Kothagudem easily and address their issues—they can also sell their produce without difficulty, they can send their children to better schools and can avail immediate medical treatment if required.