Nellore: The rain-battered areas of Sullurpet and Tada in Gudur division of the district are limping back to normal after a gap of four days, which were marked by widespread havoc in the region. In fact it was a surprise to see water flowing normally in Kalangi river of Sullurpet town, compared with the fury on Wednesday, leading to overflowing of water on the National Highway. The situation was similar with regard to Swarnamukhi river near Naidupet. In view of the changed conditions, life has come back to normal and traffic on the highway has been resumed. Even train services from Chennai and vice-versa are being restored gradually.

District Collector M. Ravichandra, who was camping at Tada, told reporters at the mandal revenue office on Thursday that both the revenue and railway officials were maintaining high alert at Bitragunta in Kavali division to ensure normal railway movement.

High alert

The alert had become inevitable in view of the recent incident involving the breach of Boggeru and two other tanks, which have been restored on a war footing after derailment of some bogies of a goods train. However, two tanks are now full and regarding the other, there is a feeling that it should be maintained at 6 ft. level, as beyond that level, there could be some problem to the track.

Accordingly, all precautions are being taken. Since some area near the track has been covered with sand casting, efforts are on to clear it with the help of machines and according to the Kavali RDO, Venkateswara Reddy, the work was going on in full swing. The Divisional Railway Manager, Vijayawada, Jagannadham, and other officials visited the area on Wednesday to assess the situation.

Collector's visit

Meanwhile, the Collector visited some rehabilitation camps at Pulivendra, Ponnavodu and other places near Tada and said he had come mainly to boost the confidence of the staff. Regarding casualties, he informed that only three had been reported in the district and they were under investigation.

Mr. Ravichandra said that based on the post-mortem report and genuineness of a casualty, the dependants were eligible for an assistance of Rs. 2 lakhs, which includes Rs. 1 lakh from Prime Minister's Relief Fund and Rs. 50,000 each as ex gratia under the `Apathbandhu' scheme.

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