Kadapa city reels under the impact of Cyclone Nivar, five days after the floods triggered by it totally receded. Many low-lying areas are still under water, while accumulation of heavy slush is visible in many colonies.
Residents struggle to clear the slush and garbage that gushed into their houses due to the flash flood. Though the garbage was pushed out of their doorsteps, it remained uncleared by the sanitary staff for many days. Coupled with the huge mounds of slush is the nauseating odour emanating from the garbage that triggers fear of spreading viral fevers. Residents appeal to the government to take preventive measures rather than feel sorry later.
Buggavanka in spate
It was the swollen Buggavanka stream that wreaked havoc on the city. Heavy discharge from the project in a very short span of time had apparently caused inundation. Though the Member of Parliament Y.S. Avinash Reddy announced that water was released at the rate of 7000 cusecs, the district officials put the record straight with a clarification that it was 19000 cusecs. The revetment wall remaining incomplete and the gaping holes all over are to blame for the submergence. It is not without reason that not only the opposition parties, but even the residents have pointed it out as ‘human error’, rather than a natural calamity. It is another matter that Deputy Chief Minister S.B. Amzath Basha, during the Chief Minister’s aerial survey, announced to get the revetment wall completed soon.
Parties take the plunge
BJP activists led by state leader Bandi Prabhakar got down to clearing the mess. In Ravindra Nagar, the slush was removed and shifted by deploying tractors. “Buggavanka’s storage capacity is a mere 0.5 TMC. The irrigation department has failed to supervise even this small project”, he fumed. The residents too decried the indifferent attitude of the civic authorities in clearing the debris. The CPI, at a round table organised by city Secretary N. Venkata Siva, squarely blamed the politicians and officials of apathy.
Meanwhile, TDP district Secretary B. Hari Prasad distributed bed sheets and food packets to 1000 persons rendered homeless due to the flood. Criticising the state government for paying a paltry Rs.500 a person towards compensation, he recalled that the TDP regime had, during the 2001 floods, paid Rs.20000 per family. Similarly, Congress State Working President N. Thulasi Reddy went around the Buggavanka and demanded immediate construction of the revetment wall.
