Andhra Pradesh - Others   

Eager to return, but forced to stay back

P. Sujatha Varma

FLOOD VICTIMS: Families evacuated from the Krishna riverbank put up at the Indira Gandhi Municipal Stadium in Vijayawada. - Photo: Raju V.

VIJAYWADA: Though hope persists, challenge continues to grow for the nearly 2,000 families evacuated from their inundated houses and shifted to the 10 relief camps set up across the city.

Even as 57-year-old Pathivadi Lakshmi, put up at the Indira Gandhi Municipal Stadium, on Sunday tried to quickly pack up the few belongings that she had managed to carry with her in tattered plastic bags to the relief camp, eight-year-old Dhanalakshmi dashed her hope. "The water level is likely to rise again by tonight. It was announced in a TV channel," the girl said aloud, amidst fading smiles.

Forty-eight hours after abandoning their homes submerged under the floodwaters of the Krishna, dwellers of flood-affected areas are eager to return home. Forced out of their houses by the gushing waters and a layer of mud, they had little choice but to make a beeeline for relief camps.

Morale low

The compassionate aid that has been flowing unhampered has done little to boost their sagging morale. "This is a temporary arrangement. We need to return to our homes and begin our lives afresh, piece by piece," said Balakumari of Tarakaramanagar.

"Many of us have lost just about everything we owned. Houses are literally torn off their foundations," lamented Kumari, worrying about her thatched roof located in the lower reaches of the riverbank.

Although the administrative apparatus managed to rise to the occasion by providing food and shelter to the flood victims, a barrage of emotions overpowered them in the face of a difficult situation.

"I am still paying monthly instalments for the debt I had incurred to repair the damage caused to my house by last year's floods. The deluge has completely devastated me," said Bangaramma, with a puckered brow.

The viewers' galleries of the stadium resembled a railway platform, with hundreds of men, women and children using the aisles for a siesta after a meal of rice, sambar and a curry. A total of 378 people belonging to 128 families, besides 56 children if below five-years age, found shelter in the stadium.

V. Hanuman Naik, district employment officer and in-charge of the relief camp, is coordinating arrangements with the assistance of a group of NSS volunteers from SRR & CVR Government College.

Though saved of starvation, the victims have other problems haunting them. Bathula Esaiah summed it up aptly, alluding to post-damage needs: "Officials have, no doubt, taken care of our basic needs, but there is a lot that we need but they don't attend to."

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