Voters Seeking Transport to Villages Ride Horses
By : Aruna
Update: 2024-05-05 15:27 GMT
Visakhapatnam: As a mark of unique protest, voters of several hilltop villages, including Madrebu, Tuniseebu, Jeenapadu and Dayethi of Anantagiri mandal in Alluri Seetharama Raju district, rode horses for four kilometres on Sunday seeking transport facilities to their hamlets.
PVTG (Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups) Adivasi Girijana Sangham organised the protest, wherein the riders wore headgear decorated with bi-lobed Bauhinia vahlii leaves while riding their horses.
The protesters warned that they would boycott voting on May 13 unless the government addresses their transportation needs.
There are 45 PVTG Kundu tribal families residing in Peddakota and Madrebu hilltop villages with 70 votes. As the villages have no roads, voters travel 30 kilometres on horseback to the polling booth in Peddakota panchayat to cast their votes.
Likewise, PVTG voters of road-less Dayerthi village ride horses for about 30 kilometres to the Jeenabadu panchayat polling booth. Same is the case with tribal voters who travel 18 kilometres on horses to Velamamidi polling booth.
“For us, horses are cargo buses to transport agricultural produce to local markets for sale. Additionally, we use horses as ambulances to take patients or full-term pregnant women to health centres,” said Kondambala Narsing Rao, secretary of girijana sangham.
“We have organised this protest as the government seems to have turned a blind eye to our demand for roads and transport facilities to our villages,” said Kondatamri Dasu, a resident of one of the hilltop villages.