Praja Sankalpa Yatra Diary, Day 96: People In This Flouride-hit Area, Cannot Look At The Sky 

Tikaripalem, Prakasam district: Today’s Padayatra for the most part, was spent with farmers who narrated their tales of suffering to me. The problems they faced were numerous and agriculture had become an onerous burden. They had to surmount hurdles created by nature and an apathetic government at every stage of the farming cycle.

A considerable part of my time was also spent with victims of fluoride-related diseases and disorders. In Kanigiri constituency, both water supply for irrigation, as also drinking water continues to be a serious problem. On the one hand, you see huge tracts of water-starved, parched land and farmers reeling under the crisis of inadequate water supply for their crops. On the other, equally moving real-life images of fluoride-affected areas, leave you dazed. One has to see these places, interact with these people and learn about their suffering to gain an insight into the ordeal that everyday life for the common man here, is. Every single family has victims of fluoride-related diseases and patients suffering from kidney disorders. Twisted, contorted limbs, discoloured teeth, spinal and neck disorders apart from kidney problems and bone diseases are rampant in this area. Fluoride is wreaking havoc in the lives of the people of this region.

Read: Chandrababu Naidu Leads The Most Corrupt State Government In the Country: YS Jagan

People here said they if they had to look at the sky, or even try to see a plane flying overhead, one had to lie down to do so. I was left speechless! The condition of these people here affected by fluoride-related disorders is so pathetic! It looks as if time has moved rapidly upon them transforming a young person into someone very old, in appearance. The insensitivity of the ruling TDP is beyond description.

My father, the late Dr YS Rajasekhara Reddy was moved by the suffering of these fluoride victims. He had set in motion his vision of providing drinking water as well, as water for farming needs. He envisioned the Ramatheertham and Gundlakamma projects and ensured that work on these projects progressed apace.

It was his initiative which led to the completion of these projects in his tenure. He had in his time, ensured that the region of Kanigiri gets safe drinking water and had put a proper scheme in place for this. The Kanigiri Drinking Water Supply Project was completed to a very large extent during my father’s period. However, tragically for the people of this fluoride-affected region, from the time that Chandrababu Naidu came to power, work on the entire scheme has come to a standstill. Not a rupee has been sanctioned in these 4 years and nothing has moved. How apathetic!

Moved by the plight of kidney patients in this area, I had staged a protest. At that time, the government machinery was shaken out of its slumber and set up five dialysis centres, more as a token measure than any demonstration of its sincerity. It did not pay any further attention to their functioning. The Chandrababu Naidu government does not value the lives of common citizens and has no time for the problems of the impoverished.

Chandrababu had given a commitment that within a year of the TDP’s return the power in 2014, the Veligonda project would be completed, but had forgotten all about it now. The people there told me, “Sir had your father been alive, not only Veligonda, but other projects would also have been completed by now. Thanks to you, we could at least get dialysis centres,” they said. My resolve to rid this region of the scourge of flouride got even more strengthened today.

Sweet lime (battai) and lime (nimma) growers met me and narrated their woes to me. They said, “Earlier, we could make profits, but for the past four years, nature and the TDP government both seem to have combined to make our lives miserable.” They told me, “Sir, we thought that these trees would bear fruit all through our lifetime and that we could depend on them. There has been no rain, the borewells do not yield water and we find these trees now wilting before our very eyes.” They lamented that entire orchards were getting destroyed.

I wondered why agriculturists suffered the most in this callous TDP rule. How could the rulers turn a deaf ear to the appeals of the farmer? Does the Chandrababu Naidu government have more important issues to attend to than farmers’ and common people’s problems? Instead of completing irrigation and water supply projects on a war footing, the TDP government has neglected the pressing needs of the farmers and common citizens alike.

Finally, I have a poser for the chief minister—do you recall the promises you made in your election manifesto? Safe drinking water supply to every village and city, a free tap for every street, every house to get a 20 litre mineral water can for Rs. 2/-, special water supply scheme for flouride-affected areas and desalination plants—these are among some of your commitments. If even one of these had been fulfilled, would Prakasam district be in such a pathetic state today?