The road less travelled

Even as the road link between Kondamodalu and Rampachodavaram has been established long back, residents of villages and hamlets along the Godavari from Devipatnam mandal prefer to travel by boat, as it is frequent, economic and time saving compared with the road route.

For quite a long time, the government had not paid attention to improving the road network, as the villages in and around Devipatnam will be submerged once the Polavaram project is completed

Be it getting their groceries, doing shopping or attending to any work with the government departments, residents of the interior villages have to go to Indukuripeta, the mandal headquarters. At present, there are three daily boat services, which will take them till Veeravaram or Toyyeru, from where they board autorickshaws to the mainland.

Risky ride

The boat ride takes approximately two hours and the fare is very much affordable. Moreover, most of the residents enjoy a personal rapport with the boating crew, so that they can either board or alight at the point of their choice. As a result, weight on the boat often exceeds its capacity, and the travel schedules keep changing owing to the unexpected halts.

Covering the thick forests and hilly terrains, managements of the paper mills in Rajamahendravaram built a road between Kakavada Gandi, near Kondamodalu, and Rampachodavaram decades ago to transport wooden logs. Subsequently, the road had been renovated by the ITDA, but people do not use it frequently. The road is not suitable for any other vehicle except the jeep and not all the drivers are familiar with the ghat road amid thick forest with a good number of curves and hairpin bends.

Even the government departments prefer to reach the villages on boat during elections and the boats are being used to cart the ballot boxes. “The road is used only when the second flood alert is issued and the movement of boats in the Godavari is prohibited,” says K. Gowri Naidu, an employee with the Revenue Department.

Fitness

The issue of checking the fitness of boats, on the other hand, is on the transit now. The Irrigation Department has issued the fitness certificates till March, and the responsibility has been transferred to the Department of Ports from April. “We have issued a notification asking boat owners to apply for licence renewal. The response is lukewarm,” says K. Dharmasastha, port officer in Kakinada.