Gouravelli reservoir | After losing all hopes, oustees vacating villages

Gouravelli reservoir works moving fast under police protection

Emotional scenes were witnessed in Gudatipally on Saturday afternoon with members of two families hugging each other and wailing inconsolably. Not that someone in the two families had died. But their village in which they lived till now and associated with so many memories is soon going to be submerged in the waters of river Godavari.

Unwilling to leave the village and fearing about an uncertain future, they were seen weeping loudly. Scenes like this have become a regular affair at Gudatipally and surrounding villages.

The final works of Gouravelli reservoir in the district are moving fast under total police protection. These works are expected to get completed in the next few weeks, as announced by Finance and Health Minister T. Harish Rao a few days ago.

As police presence has increased in the last two weeks and it has become certain that the villages would be submerged permanently under the Godavari water in the reservoir, the residents of Gudatipally village and nearby tandas are vacating one after the other. Some of the residents have already dismantled their houses and are moving to new places. While a majority of them are moving to Gouravelli crossing, where about 300 houses are under construction and some were already completed, some others are moving to Kundanavaripally road where a majority of the families of Somaji Tanda are constructing houses. Those who had already constructed houses are entering their new houses while others are erecting temporary sheds to supervise the ongoing construction hoping to move in to their new houses at the earliest.

According to sources, there are 353 houses at Gudatipally followed by 166 houses at Tenugupally, 85 houses at Somajitanda, 63 at Maddelapally and 17 at Kothapally. About 400 families from all these villages had already vacated and the remaining are in the process of getting vacated. The drinking water supply well was already cut off from these residential areas when the connectivity road was dismantled, thereby forcing the oustees to search for alternative accommodation.

The Gouravelli reservoir was initially designed with 1.4 tmcft capacity as part of Pranahita-Chevella reservoir during the tenure of late Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy during his first term in 2005 but its capacity was increased by Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao in 2015 after formation of Telangana. In addition to Gudatipally, Tenugupally, Maddelapally, Somajitanda, Seva Naik Tanda, Bondya Naik Tanda, Sevya Naik Tanda, Jalubai Tanda, Chintal tanda and Kothapally are going to get submerged under the reservoir.

About 4,000 acres of land was acquired by the government in two phases in 2009 and now.