Water Train sole hope for Donakonda residents

Ongole: On Monday morning at 9.00 am, about 100 people waited for the Tenali to Markapur Road passenger train at Donakonda. As the train chugged in, they took empty plastic water cans and pots and boarded the train. While passengers thought they were going to stage a protest before a VIP coming in the train, all they did was to fill their water cans and pots, returning to hometown Donakonda, an hour and more later, with a sigh of relief. This has been a regular scene, for the past few days for the locals and railway officials there.

Donakonda is a small town and mandal head quarters in the western area of Prakasam district, with a population of about 7200 with 1350 families. To meet the drinking water needs of the 29 villages in the mandal, the government has constructed a water storage tank at Sagar canal near Chandavaram village in 1982.

The Netherlands government has supported the construction of the tank with 885 million litres capacity spending around Rs. 2.75 crore. When the water is released from Nagarjuna Sagar, the authorities need to fill the tank and supply drinking water to Donakonda and other villages. Though there is another tank built for the increased need of water for the public, it is in the geographically elevated location, and requires power to supply the water from Sagar canal.

Over the past three decades, the pipelines and motors of the Chandavaram tanks were damaged and required regular repairs. Moreover, the water being supplied from the tank is going waste through leakages in the pipelines. This year, the tank went completely dry about two months ago. Though the local panchayat is trying to supply water with three tankers, it is not fit for drinking as it was sourced from the borewells. So the town people are forced to go to Gajjelakonda, to fetch water from the nearby tank.

This journey for water has become a tradition for the public of Donakonda every year for the past seven years. Sk Karimulla said, “This is the regular practice of us for almost seven to ten years. The Chandavaram tank won’t supply us drinking water for more than six months in a year. When summer comes, the bore wells in the town completely dries up and the panchayat also starts supplying salt water, which we cannot drink. So it became a duty for the family members to go to Gajjelakonda to bring water or buy 20 litre cans for Rs. 40 to 50.”

A family of 4 or 5 members requires 2 to 3 pots of water for a couple of days. So, it is the responsibility of the strongest person to board the train, run to the tank in Gajjelakonda and return to the station with filled in cans and pots in less than 60 minutes to catch the train again. Mekala Srinivasa Rao, a PG student said, “The train goes to the Markapur, reverses the engine and comes again to Gajjelakonda in about one hour.

We bring at least two cans to fetch the water once in two days on average. So, to catch the train and go home by 10.30, we need to be ready with filled water cans to board the train. It requires strength and ability to run with the weight on your hands. The old and women are unable to run and board the train when it stops for just less than a minute in the station. If we miss the train, we need to wait two or more hours for the next train. That means, we miss the college, regular works for the day.”

The plight of the people of Donakonda is intensifying year after year, but the government is unable to find a permanent solution to the problem. The people demand the government to stop talking about various schemes and projects like Veligonda and industrial corridor, but take up the issue of supplying safe drinking water to them.

By Naresh Nandam