Peddakunta Thanda a village of widows

​Hyderabad: Peddakunta Thanda, a tribal village on the bypass stretch of National Highway 44 that connects Bengaluru and Hyderabad has become a virtual death-trap. It has become so vulnerable to road accidents that fatalities have become too common. Hundreds go unreported while in most of the cases that are reported, vehicles have vanished into thin air and their whereabouts remain largely unknown. To make matters worse, the CCTV cameras that are installed on highway stretches can help identify accidents occurring only during daytime.

Out of about 35 odd families in the thanda, most families have been depending on women as their male members were run over and killed by speeding vehicles while crossing the by-pass adjacent to the thanda. Village sarpanch Kommu Krishna told The Hans India that even though highway authorities assured to construct a five-km road to reach the panchayat headquarters in Nandigama, the works were yet to take-off.

P Lalitha who lost her husband and two brothers in a gruesome road accident said that her life has become pathetic. The 30-year-old mother of three said that even though the car has been traced by the police, the case was closed after the intervention of an advocate, who gave an ex-gratia of Rs 10,000 for each victim. Her father succumbed to illness while she has to tend to her mother who is bed-ridden since suffering from a paralytic stroke.

With no alternate road available, the villagers have to cross the NH 44 bypass to go to the pension office, schools and to get their provisions. Though there is an underpass, the slush is so nauseating that one dreads to go anywhere near. 35-year-old Korra Laksmi has an equally heart-rending tale. He husband had gone to get ration but never returned. His body was found under a heavy vehicle. Former sarpanch Ramanna promised to render justice to the aggrieved family by getting the insurance amount from the vehicle owner.

"I got a letter from the insurance company. My advocate told me that I was entitled for Rs 2.75 lakh. I was relieved but the relief was short-lived. The advocate took my thumb impressions and in return offered me Rs 40,000. He said that the remaining amount would be handed over after few days". She said she has been moving from pillar to post to receive the remaining amount. The advocate claims that the case was pending in court. Almost every house in the thanda has at least one such tragic story. It is of such a sorry state that Peddakunta Thanda is now referred as a ‘village of widows’.

In fact, some of the villagers surrounded our vehicle and refused to allow it to move unless we gave them at least Rs 100. They said that in the absence of a regular livelihood, they were virtually starving. The government was not bothered about them and the private organisations which had purchased land from the villagers promising jobs also did nothing for them, they rued. On the measures the administration was taking to prevent accidents, Shadnagar Rural CI S Madhusudan said that there have been several unidentified deaths in the area.

He said that some bodies were crushed in such a way that they had to lift the bodies using a spade. According to the official records, as many as 195 fatal accidents were reported in the PS limits in the last three years. He said as many as 32 CCTV cameras have been registered in the PS limits, which would be monitored from the command control in the station. He opined that most hit and run cases occurred due to a lack of awareness. He said a median has now been constructed, which has helped reduce the number of accidents.