When the famous Kadem dam was commissioned in Kadem mandal of what is now Nirmal district in 1962, no one would have expected cars and other vehicles to run on the rather narrow and unsafe inspection pathway on the bund of its left canal. Over the years, the inspection pathway on the 73-km long canal has become a facility for accessing interior villages, especially those that exist alongside the canal in Nirmal as well as Mancherial district.
The rise in level of danger to users of bund road is in proportionate to the increase in number of vehicles plying on the unsuitable gravel track elevated to a height of one to three metres. There have been accidents like a car plunging into the canal in the last few years, the latest coming in October last year in which two youths from Jannaram mandal in Mancherial district lost their lives.
The incident took place near Revojipet village in Dasturabad mandal of Nirmal district. A small stretch of the canal bund road on either side of the spot of the car accident is very dangerous, going by the number of deaths that have taken place here. “At least 10 persons have died on this stretch,” pointed out Mesram Chitru, an Adivasi villager as he talked of lack of safety. He said most deaths occur when there is water flow in the canal.
“The good monsoon has water being released continuously from the Kadem project. The flow of water was strong when the two boys drowned,” he added.
“Yes, the government should think of putting up protection measures like guard rails or stones to make driving safer on the inspection pathway or bund road,” opined Kadem Assistant Eecutive Engineer T. Sreenath. At present, the government gets the gravel road repaired under its programmes. The about 75-km. long Saraswathi canal of SRSP dam in Nizamabad, which runs through Nirmal, Soan, Lamanchanda, Mamda, Khanapur and Kadem mandals in Nirmal district, does not pose as much a threat to life as the Kadem left canal does. There are only short stretches which villagers can use as road on this canal.
