Women avoided dropping their Bathukammas in the Godavari river waters

MANTHANI (BHUPALAPALLY): The people of Pankena and a few other villages in the Palimela mandal got panicked since their villages are located on the banks of river Godavari downstream of Medigadda barrage following the barrage episode.

Shockingly, the panicked villagers especially women of Pankena had placed their ‘Bathukamma’s under the local trees instead of dropping them into river Godavari waters as they generally do every year.

Villagers of Pankena dropped the idea of dropping their Bathukammas after playing into Godavari river this time with the fear of being washed away in the flood waters if anything goes wrong.

Kaluguri Manemma of Pankena said they dropped their Bathukamma under the trees and some of them in the local streams and added actually they drop their Bathukamma in the Godavari river waters which are half km away from their village. She said even they avoided dropping their Bathukamma in the tanks since they were also on the banks of river Godavari.   

She said villagers avoided going to Godavari and dropping Bathukammas in the river water with the fear of being washed away in water in the night time if anything goes wrong and there is no safety for their lives.

She said the villagers did the same on the night of October 22 and 23 night following the Medigadda barrage episode.