Hyderabad, October 12: A week after the heavy rains had stopped flooding the State, several villages on the banks of Krishna and Tungabhadra rivers still remain inundated.
Even as the State administration is patting itself for the rescue and relief activities taken up in the flood- affected areas, a large chunk of flood victims are yet to get the State aid of compensation, utensils, essential commodities and other help.
Villagers of the temple town of Alampur in Mahaboobnagar and its surrounding areas are still unable to walk into and out of their houses as the streets are inundated in kneedeep water. The repeated efforts of the officials to pump out the water did not fructify as the pumpsets employed to pump out the problem are not working and replacements are yet to arrive.
Even the clearing of slush is being delayed in many villages apart from major towns like Kurnool and Alampur.
Sources said that slush dried up and became hard at many places and officials are concentrating on slush cleaning work in Kurnool and Alampur.
“Many small villages in the surrounding areas of especially the `Lanka’ villages are not being paid attention. Many villages are still inundated and though water has receded in some villages, the slush remains there,’’ said V Anjaneyulu, a farmer from Guntur district.
On the other hand, the relief and rehabilitation measures initiated by the government are yet to reach the flood victims.
Though the government claims to have helped hundreds of victims, many villagers of flood- affected areas are yet to receive the State government’s aid. “Flood relief is yet to reach the victims. The residents of many villages in Krishna and Guntur are still residing in the relief camps and are mainly depending on NGOs and volunteers for food and clothes,’’ said V Seshasayana, an architect student from Hyderabad who is participating in the relief activities in and around Vijayawada.
The government has promised to supply 20 kg of rice and 5 litres of kerosene, utensils and clothes, besides compensation for damaged houses. But a large chunk of the victims and their families were not fortunate enough to get all the supply.
The government, which is already suffering from short supply of rice and kerosene from the Centre to its fair-price shops, is facing a big challenge of supplying the promised goods to flood victims.
“At some places, supplies to fairprice shops are being temporarily put on hold to divert the same to flood victims. As soon as the Centre releases the promised relief material, the supplies to fair-price shops will resume,’’ said a Revenue official.
–Agencies–