The boatmen deployed in the Godavari flood relief operation emerged as the new frontline warriors in the fight against the COVID-19 battle in the island villages cut off from the mainland in the Konaseema area in East Godavari district.
The flood water has cut off at least 76 habitations in the Konaseema area, pushing those infected into further trouble as they have lost access to the mainland for any medical aid in the emergency. The entire road network remains under a sheet of water in Konaseema, through which the branches of the Godavari flow to join the Bay of Bengal.
In the Konaseema’s 15 mandas, as many as 300 boats are engaged in the relief operation, each manned by a driver and his assistant.
“As many as 15 COVID patients have been evacuated from five island villages in the Konaseema area after the boat drivers agreed to it. Some of them have been brought to the mainland while the remaining have been admitted to the COVID Care Centre,” Additional District Medical and Health Officer (Amalapuram) T.K. Srinivas told The Hindu.
He said the boatmen were the only hope to attend to the COVOD patients under home quarantine in the habitations that were cut off from the mainland.
By Sunday, six patients were evacuated from Pedapatnam Lanka, five from Pasarlapudi Lanka, two from Appanapalli, and one each from Appanna Ramuni Lanka and Sakhinetipalli Lanka.
The boats will be available till the area returns to normal. More than 17.74 lakh cusecs of flood water is being released into the Konaseema area from the Sir Arthur Cotton Barrage at Dowleswaram.
A few hundreds of COVID patients are in home quarantine across the Konaseema area, and many of them will be evacuated based on their medical need.
Meanwhile, the district authorities have imposed a ban on the movement of boats at night to avoid any untoward incidents.
