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A paradise in no-man’s land
Half a dozen poor fishermen families literally ran away from the city to make a living in one of the islands of the Krishna river, fearing city life characterized by increasing cost of living. It is particularly the house rents that kept shooting through the roof ever since the location of capital that drove them away.
Amaravati: Half a dozen poor fishermen families literally ran away from the city to make a living in one of the islands of the Krishna river, fearing city life characterized by increasing cost of living. It is particularly the house rents that kept shooting through the roof ever since the location of capital that drove them away.
“Even a two-room dingy house is not rented out for anything less than Rs 4000-6,000 anywhere in the city. We can’t afford to pay heavy rents and, as homeless, we are left with no alternative but to take a shelter in the midst of the Krishna river,” says Chodipalli Balaraju. Balaraju’s family has migrated from Visakhapatnam some four decades ago and is living on fishing in the river.
He put up a thatched house in which his five member family is taking shelter. Thatched houses in the vast expanse of the river and the islands with no traces of human beings look grim to a visit by the Hans Team which reached the place by boats “I am free of the burden of house rents”, says Raju with a sense of relief writ large on his face. “In addition, the river, my habitat, is very much close to me and I don’t have to have the drudgery of making errands from home to river unlike in the past”, he added.
“There is an element of risk only at the time of the river in spate and such chances have become minimized now for a variety of reasons” he said. After his marriage, Balaraju was living in a piece of encroached land near Padmavati ghat on the river banks on the city side for several years.
His house was removed to make way for the ghat construction and his family was relocated in Vambay colony some five years ago which is far away from the river. “I earn hardly Rs 100-Rs150 after the day’s catch and most of my earnings were going for transport from the house to the river”, he explained. In the mean time, fell ill and he had dispose the relocated house to meet the medical expenses.
When they failed to have houses of their own and the house rents kept sky-rocketing, the fishermen families found an easy escape root—seeking shelter in the islands of the river. Children from these fishermen families go to school on the river banks near Padmavati Ghat by boat.
Although they are living in the midst of the river with water around, they face problems in fetching water for drinking. They go to a bore well at the Padmavati Ghat by boat with pots and the other containers to fetch water and it is a daily routine.
When men feed the families with the catch in the river, women support them by grazing the sheep of people from outside for a weekly wage of Rs 200. Thick grasslands in the islands hold out a promise of a better living for these women folks. They prefer to see the outside world only when the fair price shops offer subsidy rice.
By T Sudhakar
