An eerie silence prevails along the stretch of the Godavari in the Devipatnam mandal in erstwhile East Godavari district, with thousands of tribals having abandoned their ancestral homes as the region falls under the submergence area of the Polavaram project.
Devipatnam mandal, which has now been made part of Alluri Sitaramaraju (ASR) district, is home to the Konda Reddy, Koya and Konda Kammari tribes.
By May, nearly a year has passed since the villages have been abandoned by the Polavaram-displaced families as part of the Resettlement and Rehabilitation exercise.
Collecting souvenirs
The region is now witnessing poignant scenes of the tribals pulling down their homes to collect the wood as a memory of their ancestral land.
On April 29, this correspondent had visited the abandoned villages, where the Konda Reddy tribe demolished their own thatched houses built by their forefathers in order to collect the bamboo poles, which would remain a memory of their life by the river.
Beginning from Devipatnam village to Enugulagudem, Manturu and Kutchluru, almost all the houses in these habitations have been demolished by their owners for their wood that is being shifted to their rehabilitation colonies.
Meanwhile, nearly 11 habitations under Konda Modalu panchayat are preparing to leave their habitations before the next monsoon as their habitations are likely to be flooded with water from the Polavaram project.
On condition of anonymity, Konda Reddy tribals of this area told The Hindu that many of them are yet to be compensated. “Last March, the officials forced the locals to leave Enugulagudem and Kachuluru villages. Following this, the others started vacating their habitations by May. Till date, many displaced families are yet to be compensated properly,” they said.
Disconnect
“Our life will no more be associated with the sacred river. Earlier, every aspect of our life was linked to it — be it topsoil brought by the floodwaters which would help grow crops or fish in the river. Until the floods, every family earns a livelihood by fishing in the river,” says Satyam, a Konda Reddy tribal displaced from Devipatnam area.
For more than half the year, the tribals would grow pulses along the river bank that is fertile with the deposition of soil due to floodwaters. Women could swim the Godavari as fishing during the monsoon was an integral part of their life.
“Every feature of our tribal life has disappeared now. Ours is the last generation that lived by the Godavari and the first generation to be disconnected with it,” added Mr. Satyam, an active member fighting for tribal farmers’ rights.
