Dear Friends,
Our friends: Mr.Pilla Kiran Kumar and Mr.Uriti Sunil Kumar visited Penugotivada Village on behalf of 'Friends Association for a Change' during hot summer on 2nd May, 2014.
Penugotivada village is located in Srikakulam District in the border of Andhra Pradesh and Orissa states. Almost 7 years back the village is effected with the flood of Vamsadhara River which is located beside the village.
Almost 280 acres of agricultural land is destroyed with the flood of river water. The lands turned in such a way that they cannot be used for agriculture. And the villagers who depend on agriculture totally lost their livelihood since 2007. And they continued to stay in the same village even though the flood water enters the village for 3 months during rainy season. The operations of govt. school and all kinds of works which they do in their village are affected during rainy season.
The Government authorities informed the villagers to vacate the village and to move to the lands allocated to the villagers by the government in the year 2010. But, though the documents are handed to the villagers, the land is not yet handed over to the villagers by the government till date. The government even provided employment to the villagers under employment scheme for almost 3 months in an year.
As this happened almost 7 years back, the villagers are now in a situation that they have no income, no properties and they are leading their lives on daily labor basis.
They are expecting for a help from the government:
1) To build the border construction wall for the village which is collapsed due to the flood water of the river. Though this construction is done by the government earlier in 2008, the border collapsed even for the second time. So the government allocated them with separate lands (which are not yet handed over to them)
(OR)
To hand over the lands allocated to them by the government in the year 2010 in the nearby village.
2) To provide employment to the villagers for 365 days in an year.
Irrespective of government help, as we started our organization for the sake of helping others, we offered below opportunities to the villagers:
1) Self-employment program to the villagers on any kind of hand made products that they are interested in manufacturing as a team. We even gave them commitment on selling their products to the people with our own responsibility.
Answer from Villagers:
As they are from various castes and as per their caste, they do not do belong to that profession of handmade products. So, none of them are interested to work on hand made products.
2) Free training on tailoring work to the villagers on sewing machines and to arrange an office on tailoring self- employment program in their own village.
Answer from Villagers:
Yes. They are interested to get trained on sewing work only if we are ready to donate sewing machines to each of them individually. And they are even expecting us to bring the business on sewing work to each and every family individually. They are not interested to work as a team in an office. Moreover they informed us that during rainy season, the river water enters the village and all kinds of works that happen in the village will be stopped for almost 3months.
3) Tailoring work employment to the villagers if they are willing to work at Visakhapatnam. As there is no scope for creating employment for 3 months (during rainy season) in their village, we decided to start creating employment on tailoring in Visakhapatnam and gave the first priority to the villagers. If any of the family or individual from their village is interested in tailoring, we are ready to help them to have their employment in Visakhapatnam.
Answer from Villagers:
None of the villagers showed their interest to utilize the opportunity of employment at Visakhapatnam.
4) Finally as there is not even a single shop in their village, we came forward to invest (without expecting any returns) to at least one family who is poor enough and is interested to do business (General store or Vegetables shop) in their own village. This could change the life of at least one family in their village.
Answer from Villagers:
Villagers are not interested to accept this offer even. They informed us that the villagers borrow the goods without spot payments for the goods they purchase and they are habituated in borrowing. So the business will not work out for them.
We are unable to help the villagers in any of the way due to lack of unity and interest among the villagers in manufacturing hand made products / to work on tailoring as a team in an office / to move to some other place from their village for employment.
Finally:
We have the only option to meet the Collector/MLA of their village, and place a request to hand over the lands sanctioned to them in the year 2010 by the government. This could solve many of their existing problems. This can be done in an easy way only if anyone among us have a political influence to convey the same to the minister of that village and to get the things done.
We would like to specially thank Mr.Pilla Kiran Kumar and Mr.Uriti Sunil Kumar for their efforts in reaching the village and gathering the required information from the villagers.
Regards,
Friends Association for a Change
(Society No. 587/2012)
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