ELURU : The Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) on Monday described `Operation Kolleru' launched by the State government as a `futile exercise', which allegedly failed to serve the very objective of insulating the habitations and farm fields in the upper reaches of Kolleru.

Briefing the media on the outcome of the visit by a party delegation in 10 flood-affected Kolleru villages, the CPI (M) district secretary Mantena Sitaram on Monday said that the recent flash floods were a pointer to the fact that the operation had miserably failed to serve its purpose.

Submergence threat

Besides, it also failed to restore the habitat of the local fisher folks, which was disturbed by the demolition of fishponds as part of the operation, he added.

The official machinery had limited itself to removal of fishponds while ignoring the need for straightening the pilot channel and widening the course of Upputeru, he recalled. As a result, the heavy inflows joining the lake from different inlets were surging back for want of a hassle-free passage at the narrow Upputeru creek, posing a threat of submergence to the villages within and outside Kolleru. A cluster of villages in the lake had been under a sheet of floodwaters for the last four-five days, the party leader said.

Inquiries by the visiting team with the Kolleru villages had revealed that the rehabilitation package offered by the Government in the run up to the Operation Kolleru was yet to reach several habitations in the lake.

It was found during the visit by the team that not even a single family had got benefited with the package yet in Chettunnapadu and Agadalalanka. Instead, in some villages like Kalakurru, the fishermen were subjected to harassment by the authorities of Forest Department for rearing pigs. If that was the case, how could the habitat of the affected persons be revived, he wondered.

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