The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh News : This hamlet cries for attention

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Dec 14, 2007
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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

This hamlet cries for attention

Ramesh Susarla

No development scheme has been launched here

Photo: T. Vijaya Kumar

Pathetic picture: ST families living on the irrigation canal bund near Kuchenapudi without basic amenities. —

KUCHENAPUDI: This non-descript hamlet located on the outskirts of Kuchenapudi, where more than 50 scheduled tribe families are staying under the thatched roofs, has not received any attention for the past one decade. In fact the village has received no development schemes so far.

Five ministers came to this village a couple of days ago to inaugurate a Primary Health Centre at the centre of the village, but these huts devoid of a toilet facility projected a bad picture right from the main road on which they came in a procession. People had to literally close their nose and tread carefully not to step onto a heap of human excreta.

With no public or private facilities available, open defecation was an accepted norm here and occurrence of frequent fevers among the Yanadi residents was a known fact. While a couple of families stayed on this canal bund for over a decade they grew in numbers with others migrating from interior locations to this hamlet finding agriculture labour work here with landlords.

High dropout rate

Out of 200-odd residents everyone went for farm labour work while only two youth were in degree colleges and two others in their intermediate including two girls.

Some children went to the local school, but the dropout rate was very high here touching 50 per cent.

“Several requests for a housing site or a house under Indiramma fell on deaf ears,” says Gunnam Sankar studying in Degree I year at Repalle. Only one resident – K. Venkaiah, an RTC conductor was employed. The residents here do not own any cattle.

Far-fetched dream

For the past four years one DWCRA group had been functioning here and a new one was started last year and some of the women got loans under ‘Pavala Vaddi’ but all their loans went to repay those taken from lenders at higher rates to keep themselves alive during non-agriculture season, said Gunnam Boosamma.

There are 25 members in both the SHG groups – Velugu and Bhavani.

Politically activist Tammisetti Narayana, one of the residents told The Hindu, “We have been promised houses under the next phase of Indiramma, but with elections looking imminent, chances of getting a house site or house looks like a far-fetched dream.”

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