The Hindu : National : Bamboo is their lifeboat

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Dec 09, 2005

National

National

Bamboo is their lifeboat

B.V.S. Bhaskar

FOOD FOR THOUGHT: Labourers cooking on a makeshift `kitchen' on bamboo on the banks of the Godavari. The group came with a load of bamboo from Chhattisgarh. — Photo: S. Rambabu

Rajahmundry: A boat ride on the Godavari may be enjoyable for many, but for the labourers who transport loads down the river, it is far from a joy ride.

About 50 to 60 labourers from Oddegudem of Vara Ramachandrapuram mandal in Khammam district go to Kunta in Chhattisgarh to get contracts to transport bamboo through the river and into Andhra Pradesh.

Bamboo contractors from Andhra Pradesh purchase huge quantities of bamboo through the Forest Department auctions in Jagadalpoor, Bijapur and Sukuma. They then engage the kattu coolies to transport the bamboo down the Godavari from Kunta to Kotilingala.

The kattu coolies tie the bamboo poles together to form rafts, with the help of other labourers whom they engage. It takes three to four days to arrange a bamboo load of 1,200 to 2,000 sticks.

The distance from Kunta to Rajahmundry in Andhra Pradesh is about 300 to 400 km and the route is not an easy one. The rafts float perilously from Kunta to Koida, and to the mouth of the Papikondalu. Here, the Godavari narrows from about two-and-a-half km to less than half a km, and the rafts are caught in a dangerous eddy. Often, the coolies are thrown off into the swirling water. Once the rafts swing safely out of the narrow lanes, they reach Kondamodalu, where the contractors will be waiting. The coolies have to load and unload the bamboo at Rajahmundry.

They are paid Rs. 2,000 for risking their lives to get the bamboo through the river.

The journey between Kunta and Kotlingala in Rajahmundry takes about 12 days. The coolies have to wait for five to 15 days on the river till the contractor unloads the bamboo. They themselves have to meet the expenses during this time.

"We return home by road with Rs. 200 to Rs. 500. When there is no work of this nature, we go for roadwork or construction work and are paid Rs. 60 a day. But this is the only life we know," said Pullendula Ramanaiah, Mutyala Joga Rao and Mutyala Venkanna, coolies who have been waiting at Rajahmundry for the last 15 days to unload bamboo.

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