Siddeswaram Bridge yet to get off ground to Recurring boat tragedies in Rayalaseema

Siddeswaram Bridge yet to get off ground to Recurring boat tragedies in Rayalaseema
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Once again the nightmare of 2007 has revisited the people of Kurnool with the incident at Anantapur where thirteen members of a family drowned when a boat capsized in a pond at Yerra Thimmappa Cheruvu village on Friday, meeting a watery grave in Krishna River.

Kurnool: Once again the nightmare of 2007 has revisited the people of Kurnool with the incident at Anantapur where thirteen members of a family drowned when a boat capsized in a pond at Yerra Thimmappa Cheruvu village on Friday, meeting a watery grave in Krishna River.

The people of Nandikotkur taluk in Kurnool district demand the construction of Siddeswaram Bridge to avoid boat tragedies in Krishna River which would connect Kurnool and Mahabubnagar districts. The construction works relating to the Siddeswaram Bridge over River Krishna in the border district of Mahabubnagar has just remained on paper.

There is no sign of executing such works anywhere in the district even after five years although 61 persons have lost their lives when a boat capsized in Krishna River near Nehru Nagar in Kurnool district in 2007. It may be recalled that on January 19, 2007, a boat with 61 people capsized near Nehru Nagar while on their way to Singotam Jatara of Kolhapur mandal, the first time in the history of the state that such a big accident took place.

The then Chief Minister, YS Rajasekhara Reddy had promised the people of the region that a bridge would be constructed and he even performed a bhoomi puja in the same year of 2008. However, neither the officials nor the politicians were showing interest to get it completed. Later, the government decided to construct a bridge connecting the two districts and also released Rs 50 crore under the first phase. However, due to the Telangana agitation, the construction of the bridge was kept on the backburner.

The people of the district were critical of the government for its lack of sincerity and commitment to complete the bridge. Although the plan to construct the bridge through the highway of Nandyal to Hyderabad was ready, the government is not ready to implement the plan of constructing bridge on Krishna River.

It would improve the business and social relations between two districts. As it is an open secret that the rulers are least interested in completion of the bridge, the people have lost hope on the bridge and they are continuing their journey on boats risking their lives.

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