ASR District: 4,000 Adivasis still in relief camps
By : DC Correspondent
Update: 2024-09-14 17:40 GMT
Visakhapatnam: Around 4,000 Adivasis are still in makeshift relief camps as 113 hamlets in Chinturu division of Alluri Sitharamaraju (ASR) district remain inundated, nearly 10 days after heavy rains devastated the region.
The worst affected villages are Kunavaram, VR Puram and Etapaka, where water is yet to recede.
Godavari river is flooded in excess of 38 feet, even as the level of Sabari river has come down.
The floods in the last week of August had affected 140 villages in 22 mandals in the district, killing five people and destroying 2,774 hectares of regular cropped area and 81 hectares of horticulture land.
ASR district collector Dinesh Kumar said 22 roads were blocked, affecting the traffic to Odisha and Chhattisgarh. So far, 18 roads have been restored on war-footing basis.
He said 20,030 people were put in relief camps since the floods began. Every affected family was given 25 kgs of rice, along with dal, oil, onions and potatoes, Kumar said.
To prevent waterborne diseases, 195 medical camps were set up. Camps will be organised once every week, the collector said.
He said only complains of fever were being reported but no waterborne diseases were reported.
Regarding the road network, which was completely cut off due to mudslides and rolling down of boulders in Paderu Ghat Roads, the collector said 90 per cent of the network has been restored.
The Visakhapatnam-Bhadrachalam road in Gudem Kotha Veedhi mandal was destroyed in a stretch of 7 km. This also disconnected the communication between Paderu and Sileru.
"The main roads have been restored and the teams are surveying the interior roads in the division," the collector said, adding that 12 mandal level officials were supervising the repair works.
Heavy machinery was acquired from National Highways Authority and a few from Odisha, he added.