Dwellers of rural parts face double whammy of incessant rains in erstwhile Adilabad

Adilabad: People living in rural parts of erstwhile Adilabad district faced the double whammy of incessant rains that damaged tacky transportation system. Their woes were amplified by the six-day long unprecedented downpours that battered the roads, bridges and culverts.

The district saw heavy rains from July 9 to 14, disrupting normal life. Flooding streams breached several roads and damaged bridges and culverts. Evidently, 105 roads, 146 bridges and culverts were affected due to the recent incessant rains in Adilabad district alone, reflecting the nature’s fury, as per information provided by officials of both the Roads and Build and Panchayat Raj departments.

“The cost of the temporary repairs of the roads and bridges was assessed to be Rs 15 crore. A report was sent to the government, explaining the severity of the damage caused by the heavy rains. Efforts were on to restore major stretches that were breached and bridges affected by the floods,” Roads and Build department Superintendent Engineer B Ravinder Naik told ‘Telangana Today.’

A total 123 roads and bridges of Roads and Building department were damaged by the floods in erstwhile Adilabad district. Over 100 roads and bridges formed and maintained by the Panchayat Raj department were also battered by the downpours. As a result, many villages in Adilabad, Mancherial, Nirmal and Kumram Bheem Asifabad districts remained disconnected from the mainstream for a week.

Residents of the remote villages are struggling to reach mandal centres and towns for various needs, mainly medical emergencies due to lack of a transportation system. They are forced to walk for long distances to find their destinations. They are shelling huge amounts to commute by hiring private means of transportation. The dwellers of tribal habitations are bearing the brunt of the rains.

In particular, pregnant women are undergoing nightmarish experiences to reach nearby primary health centres. For instance, a tribal woman had to give birth to a baby on the banks of a stream in Mamidiguda hamlet in Indervelli mandal on July 18 and another woman had no option but delivered a baby boy on road at Nagepalli village in Bejjur mandal on Thursday.