The Hindu : Drought overwhelms mighty river

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Feb 12, 2003

Southern States

Southern States - Andhra Pradesh

Drought overwhelms mighty river

By W. Chandrakanth

Mahabubnagar Feb. 11. Eedamma Jatara is being celebrated at Kollapur near here. An endless stream of bullock carts, chirpy little girls and frolicking youngsters dot the dusty roads of the town.

But, there ends the merriment. In villages away from the town, parched fields greet the visitors. And the once mighty Krishna river wears a forlorn look. The Alamatti dam's impact could be seen here.

The villages around Kollapur are witnessing the first-ever migrations. The SC-wada, as they call it, is almost deserted. More than 70 per cent youth have left for far off places. The Old and infirm are left behind.

Congress leaders led by the PCC president, M. Satyanarayana Rao, who visited the area on Tuesday were greeted by locked doors en route at many places.

Speaking to The Hindu, Narasimha Swamy, a STD booth owner of Peddamarur village of Eepinagandla mandal, said more than 200 youths have migrated to Maharashtra, Gujarat and Karnataka from the village. "The Chinnamarur LI is of no use to us any more. This is the first time we are witnessing such a situation. We used to have crops in 10,000 acres. It is three months now that people have been migrating.''

Chinna Buddanna (26) is awaiting his wife's consent. "Last month I had work for just five days. This month so far, just three days. We treat every meal as the last meal nowadays. Tomorrow may not be another day for us. The moment my wife agrees, I move over to some other place.''

The Krishna river had never dried up so long. The crisis is slightly peculiar here. A tailor by profession, Anjaneyulu (48) says, " I have four children. Don't know what else to do. My friends suggest I migrate to Hyderabad. There is no one here who is wearing new clothes now.''

Mahesh, a class seven student is confused, "I used to have new clothes for Sankranti. Not this year. Nor my brother could. Mother does not give me money any more.'' For him, it is a strange feeling seeing his mother confined to home nowadays. "Earlier, she used to go for some work or the other. She also used to give me 50 paise or so now and then.''

The PCC president along with a few Congress MLAs assured the villagers that he would bring their plight to the notice of the Government. They also donated Rs. 1,000 and a half a bag of rice to Deepti, whose father starved to death three months ago.

The villagers seek an end to the harassment of Transco people who force them to pay the bills and relief.

Drought seems to be a great leveller - irrespective of their professions, all those who migrate are turning into construction labour. However, for those who have stayed behind, the preferred destination seems to be Hyderabad. Well, the hi-tec governance may not reach them, but they are willing to reach its precincts.

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