KAKINADA: The Polavaram project-affected families are in a sad plight as the rehabilitation colonies too have been inundated. This, as the officials' estimations have proven wrong.
Officials had erected a rehabilitation colony at Kivvaka village in Kukunuru mandal for the inhabitants of four villages --Dacharam, Kivvaka, Damacharla and Vupperu. This colony is now under water. The residents of the colony have been evacuated to safer places.
The people of the merged mandals and the administrations of Polavaram and Devipatnam mandals had repeatedly urged the authorities to settle their R&R packages by bringing their villages under the 41.5 contour instead of the 45.5 contour before taking up the project construction. The officials have not heeded their pleas and proceeded with the construction works.
Now all the merged mandals including erstwhile East and West Godavari district have been marooned. Before 2019, the government included the villages like Devipatnam, Pudipalli, Damanapallil, Kothagudem, K Veeravaram, Devanapalli etc in the 45 contour.
But, during the 2019 floods, all these villages had been submerged and the government as well as the people of the area faced a lot of hardships. With this experience, these villages have been included in the 41 contour list in 2020.
Now, all the villages in merged mandals except 11 villages in VR Puram and one village in Kunavaram have been listed in the 45 contour.
The present floods inundated all the villages including Yetapaka police station area, the Kunavaram Bus Stand and agricultural fields. Kukunuru village has been marooned.
The AP High Court had, in a judgment in 2007, directed the government that it should not take up any project construction works until the Rehabilitation and Resettlement package was completed. The government did not heed this call and started the work. Now, the people are facing hardships due to the floods and the backwaters in the cofferdam at the Polavaram project.
Adivasi MahaSabha legal adviser Inapurapu Suryanarayana has requested the government to include all the villages under the 41 contour and construct the rehabilitation colonies in areas that will not be affected by the floods or any other natural disasters in future.
