Going to school during the rainy season has become a difficult task for students of several villages in Saluru mandal in the absence of a bridge across the River Vegavathi. When Vegavathi swells with huge inflows, the students of Peda Parannavalasa, Chinna Parannavalasa and Rongalivanivalsa villages in Andhra Pradesh have only two options: cross the river risking their lives or skip school. People of these villages have been waiting for the past three decades to get a hassle-free journey to reach their mandal headquarters, Saluru.
Though these villages are just four km away from Saluru, the villagers have to travel at least 12 km by road to reach Saluru for their day-to-day activities such as education, employment, business, livelihood and medical and health, states a report in The New Indian Express.
Peda Parannavalasa, Chinna Parannavalasa and Rongalivanivalasa are agriculture and dairy-based villages with good water resources such as Kura Gedda and Vegavathi. Though the previous Congress government of the erstwhile united Andhra Pradesh started construction of a bridge on the river in 2009, the works were stopped mid-way due to various reasons.
Now, the structure is in a dilapidated condition. After a series of agitations by villagers, the previous TDP regime sanctioned a causeway at Pedda Parannavalasa at an estimated cost of Rs 1.44 crore. However, it did not go beyond the tender stage.
Speaking to TNIE, Chokkapu Trinadha Rao of Peda Parannavalasa said, "We are dropping our children at school by carrying them on our shoulders while crossing the river. Many times, this will affect our agriculture and other works. The construction of a bridge has become a distant dream for us. We are crossing the river in a dangerous way even during medical emergencies. In the process, a few of the villagers were washed away in the floodwater earlier. Therefore, I appeal to the government to build either the bridge or the causeway at the earliest."
Vipparthi Bhanu, a Class X student of Chinna Parannavalasa said, "I am studying in Sivaramapuram Zilla Parishad High School. We are facing difficulties to reach our school in the rainy season in the absence of a bridge. We have no other way but to risk our lives or skip our classes when Vegavathi is in spate. Our parents are also facing difficulties in going to the mandal headquarters by crossing the river."
School headmaster Umamaheswara Rao said at least 30 students are facing difficulties coming to the school during the rainy season as there is no bridge across the river. "When the river is in spate, most of the students hailing from the three villages skip school," he said.
Officials, on condition of anonymity, said fund crunch is preventing them from taking up any initiative to take up construction of the bridge across the river.
