Amshala Swamy had dreamt of Shivannagudem reservoir

The reservoir, he strongly believed, would solve the fluoride issue completely.

Nalgonda: Fluorosis victim Amshala Swamy breathed his last without fulfilling his big dream to see the completion of the Shivannagudem reservoir and his area getting irrigation facility through it. The reservoir, he strongly believed, would solve the fluoride issue completely.

Swamy, who fought against fluorosis for 30 of the 37 years he lived, could be seen frequently sitting on the steps of his salon and looking at the work on the Shivannagudem reservoir. His happiness, relatives said, knew no bounds when the bund of the reservoir came up connecting two hills. The bund could be seen clearly from his salon.

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During the campaign for the Munugode by-elections, he had said no new fluorosis case was reported in the area after the launch of Mission Bhagiratha, which helped people avoid consuming groundwater. The Shivannagudem reservoir would bring fluoride content to normal level and provide river water for irrigation of agriculture fields in the area as well. It was his dream to see water flowing through the canals of the reservoir, his relatives said, adding that he had said that he never expected Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao to take up such a major project with a reservoir of 11.9 tmc capacity. He had thought the State government would just expand the area of the Cherlagudem irrigation tank, but the Shivannagudem reservoir raised his hopes.

Unfortunately, he did not live long to see the reservoir completed.