On August 30, the Andhra Pradesh government announced that it would distribute social security pensions to the beneficiaries on August 31 instead of the usual September 1 as it was a Sunday. Bollem Sravani, a young mother of two, thinks, in hindsight, that had they postponed the date, perhaps her mother-in-law would have lived today.
Ms. Sravani, her husband Siva Sankar and their two children, aged 3 and 6, live in a dilapidated rented house not very far from the site in Moghalrajpuram in Vijayawada where rockslides killed at least six people following extremely heavy rains on the night of August 30. One of the victims is her mother-in-law, Bollem Lakshmi (49). The others are Jampana Annapurna (59), Meghana (25), Santosh (18), Yashwant (18) and P. Lal (38).
Of the six families, only Meghana’s family, on which the boulder fell, was provided with a house in the Rajarajeswari Peta as compensation. The second house, where Yashwant and Santosh had arrived as tenants just the night before the incident, was damaged too, but his family has not received any amount, says the house owner K. Venkateswara Rao.
The deaths were some of the most ghastly rockslide fatalities reported in the city in the recent past.
Even though an estimated 3 lakh people live on the hill slope areas in the East and West constituencies in Vijayawada city, and stray incidents of rocks falling on houses get reported every year from the One Town and Indrakeeladri areas, the occurrence of deaths is rare.
Ugly reminder of devastation
However, this time, apart from the six deaths, the loss includes damages to 96 houses, making it the first fatal rockslide and the most devastating accident to ever occur in Moghalrajpuram.
The pieces of rocks and rubble that lie on the road, uncleared by the authorities even after two months, continue to remain an ugly reminder of the nightmare of an accident, making it even more difficult to move on. The rocks fell right in front of the Vijayawada Municipal Corporation’s (VMC) 18th Ward Office in Division 5.
Soon after the rockslide, people living near the hillock left their houses out of fear, but many gradually started to return. Nevertheless, a chill runs down their spines every time rain is forecast in their area as they worry that another boulder might roll down the hill to claim their lives.
Shattered dreams
Ms. Sravani and her family lived in a kutcha house of their own at the site of rockslides until 18 months ago. Later, they moved into a rented house in the next lane as they began to construct a two-storey building in place of the old house at a cost of ₹30 lakh.
“Having an own house has always been our dream. Savings of years and a huge loan went into the construction of the new house where my husband and his parents lived for 35 years”Bollem SravaniResident of Moghalrajpuram hillslope
“Having an own house has always been our dream. Savings of years and a huge loan went into the construction of the new house where my husband and his parents lived for 35 years,” Sravani says, as she remembers the joy they had when they performed a housewarming function on August 18, hardly two weeks before a rock robbed them of it.
More than 25,000 families live on the hill slopes in the Vijayawada East Constituency, under which the Moghalrajapuram area falls. The ruling Telugu Desam Party’s MLA, Gadde Rammohan Rao, represents the Constituency.
First of its kind
“The hilly area spreads across five divisions in the Constituency, and each division has around 12,000 voters, with approximately 20,000 people in the division. The boulders on the hillock where the accident occurred were so precariously positioned that one would fear going anywhere near it,” Mr. Gadde Rammohan Rao says, noting that it was the first time that such rockslides caused deaths in the area.
One reason why people choose to live on or close to the hillslopes is that it is cheap, explains C. Usha Rani, a Corporator. “One will find that two to three families live in a 100-yard area. Except for accessibility, people do not have many problems here,” she says, adding that property and water taxes are also comparatively lower.
While people started living on the hills in the 1980s, more families started settling there when road connectivity, drinking water supply and streetlights were provided. Most of these families belonged to the lower middle class, who came from far-off places in the 1970s-80s to earn a livelihood. Since living in plain areas of the city was unaffordable, they settled on the hill slopes, says Ms. Rani.
One such family who settled on the hillslopes early on was that of Ms. Sravani’s mother-in-law, B. Lakshmi (49). Ms. Lakshmi, who lived there for over three decades, worked as a security guard at the PVP Mall, which was located in the heart of the city and just over a kilometre from her house.
On August 31, she woke up earlier than usual to go to their new house and perform puja before leaving for the government office to collect her pension under the NTR Bharosa scheme rolled out by the TDP. After completing the puja, she locked the door and stepped out in the rain around 7.30 a.m., when a boulder that fell on the next two houses came rolling down, crushing the side wall of Lakshmi’s new house along with it.
The roaring sound of the boulder woke everyone in the neighbourhood, including Ms. Sravani and her husband, Siva Sankar, who works in a shop at Auto Nagar, 5 kilometres from his house. They rushed to the spot to see the two houses next to their new house in a heap of rubble and that their house was safe.
“It was pouring. People were running helter-skelter. Immediately, the men got to work and removed three people from under the rubble. Two of them were still alive at that time. But, we did not see my mother there at first, which gave me hope. I thought she must have left to collect her pension and was safe,” recollects Mr. Sankar.
But his hopes were dashed when they found his mother’s body mangled under the rubble.
Jampana Annapurna, another victim of the rockslide, lived in a small one-bedroom-kitchen house next door to Mr. Shankar’s new house. The boulder fell on the house where Annapurna lived for ₹3,000 rent.
On the fateful day, Ms. Annapurna was about to leave for the government office to collect her pension, but a ward volunteer, who coordinates and implements government welfare schemes, told her that she would come to Ms. Annapurna’s house in a while to guide her. “That made my mother stay. Had she left for the office, this would not have happened,” says Jampama Anil, Ms. Annapurna’s son, who earns a living doing menial jobs.
Mr. Anil lives with his wife and a teenage daughter in a rented house only 150 metres away. “We took a separate house on rent for my mother so that she has her space and can sleep well,” says Mr. Anil. His wife, Ms. Prasanna, sells sugarcane juice nearby, and they pay ₹4,500 rent for the house they live in.
“The memories of the tragedy continue to haunt us,” says Ms. Prasanna, who, even though she wishes to move into a house away from the hill, struggles to find one that fits their budget. “Here, we get it for cheap, but life is more important,” she says, adding that the ₹5 lakh ex gratia from the government is not enough compensation for their loss.
Began in the 1980s
“It was former Chief Minister N.T. Rama Rao who distributed pattas to 10,000 people in the 1980s. Back then, the Moghalrajpuram Hill was not occupied. So, most of the pattas went to people living in the Chitti Nagar (West) Hills. In the East, out of more than ₹25,000 families, only 1,000 must be having pattas,” says Mr. Rammohan Rao.
The present Chief Minister, N. Chandrababu Naidu, during his previous rule between 2014 and 2019, also asked the Andhra University to identify safe zones in these areas where pattas could be given. However, the MLA adds that the government changed after 2019 before the pattas could be sanctioned.
Despite the recent tragedy, Mr. Rammohan Rao says the residents there refuse to leave and continue to demand pattas.
Experts weigh in
Meanwhile, experts opine that extremely heavy rains in the region will be more frequent in the future. The hilly terrain of Vijayawada is very stable, but the hills are prone to rockslides, says G. Krishna Rao, retired professor of Geology from Andhra University.
“The rocks of the hill are weathered to some extent. It means that the outer part of the rock is decomposed and has become soil. But the remnant rock stays embedded in that soil-like substance. During heavy rainfall, the outer soil gets washed away, leaving the boulder-like remnant to loosen and roll down” G. Krishna RaoRetired professor of Geology, Andhra University
He explains: “The rocks of the hill are weathered to some extent. It means that the outer part of the rock is decomposed and has become soil. But the remnant rock stays embedded in that soil-like substance. During heavy rainfall, the outer soil gets washed away, leaving the boulder-like remnant to loosen and roll down.”
The geologist stresses that since the rocks in the hills are highly jointed (fractured), there may be many such boulders, and rockslides may happen from time to time, depending on the intensity of the rainfall. Hence, it is not safe to live on hill slopes.
However, Mr. Sankar, who lost his mother to the rockslide, believes otherwise. Determined to return to his newly constructed two-storeyed house, he says, “This was a one-off incident. I do not think such incidents will take place again.”
His wife, Ms. Sravani, on the other hand, is not as confident as he is. “My children used to play outside every day when we lived there. We never thought the hill posed such dangers back then,” she says, adding, “Now, I’m scared to send my children out to play.”
The solution to the couple’s dilemma appears to lie in the government’s hands, and it depends solely on its determination to improve the lives of the rapidly growing urban poor population.
Unbridled constructions, deforestation
Banu Chitra, a professor at the School of Architecture and Planning, Vijayawada, outlines some steps that can be taken to mitigate the problem: “Constructions should follow the stringent guidelines of conducting soil analysis, foundation strength, and slope safety tests. Regular inspections must be done to ensure compliance. Moreover, more trees must be planted along vulnerable slopes, as they can help maintain soil integrity.”
“People need to be educated about the consequences of unbridled constructions and deforestation,” she explains, adding that the government should designate protected areas to ensure the soil integrity is maintained.
She says that due to a lack of dedicated zoning policy and urban planning, unregulated construction and deforestation have become prevalent, leading to environmental degradation.
Prof. Chitra also stresses the installation of early warning systems and enhanced emergency preparedness.
Solution out of sight
However, emergency evacuation could be difficult given the sheer number of people living in the city’s risk-prone areas.
On the night of August 30, Vijayawada received 18 cm of rainfall. Mr. Rammohan Rao says: “There are 200 vulnerable spots in the city. Thousands of families live there. Besides, this rainfall was the heaviest rainfall received by the city in 100 years. Till then, we did not know what ‘extremely heavy rainfall’ meant. Is it 10 cm or 15 cm?”
The MLA also says that building safety fencing in the area is not a viable option. “The houses are built in no particular order. Fencing each and every house will cost crores of rupees. The government does not have the wherewithal to undertake such a huge task,” he says, adding that the government would soon mull over viable solutions to the problem.
Even as the government grapples to bring a solution to the problem of the three lakh migrant urban poor that continue to risk their lives every day to stay closer to their workplaces and make a living, Mr. Anil and Mr. Shankar, who lost their mothers are left with tough choices to make for theirs and their children’s future.
Published – November 08, 2024 08:31 am IST
