The residents of four tribal villages in the Visakha Agency are said to be finding it increasingly difficult to get suitable marriage alliances for their sons.
The aversion of the prospective brides to marry the men from these villages is lack of electricity.
“The prospective brides are unable to think of their life without a mobile phone and a television set. Even those married to the residents of theses villages are staying for a month or two in the house of their in-laws and leaving for their parents’ homes. They may not disclose the reason for it. But, it is obvious—lack of electricity,” says a tribal leader.
Almost all the tribal villages, which have electricity connection, invariably have dish antennas and mobile phones have become an addiction for all age groups.
However, at Neredubandha and Guddipa Gadabapalem of Ravikamatham mandal and Ramachandrapuram and Jajulabandha of Koyyuru mandal, power is a luxury, he says.
Novel protest
The people, who have been living in the darkness for years, staged a protest on the Deepavali day. They took out torch rallies in their villages, appealing to the government that power connection be given to their villages.
The protests were led by K. Venkata Rao at Jajulabandha, PTG Sangam leader Killo Pottudora at Neredubandha, Sridhari Nagesh at Ramachandrapuram and Tinni Appa Rao at Guddipa Gadabpalem.
“We have been living without electricity for the past several years. We used to use kerosene lamps in the past, but its supply has also been stopped. Now, we depend on rechargeable torches. In the absence of electricity, we have to travel 9 km to charge our mobile phones,” says Girijana Sangam leader K. Govinda Rao.
“Guddipaa Gadabapalem was sanctioned a housing colony under the NTR housing scheme in 2016-17 financial year. The houses have been constructed, but there is no power. A grant was said to have been sanctioned for Nerdubandha under the World Bank scheme in 2018, but the work has not been taken up so far,” he laments.
Migrant tribals settled in Ramachandrapuram 15 years ago and have been living in the dark ever since. Jajulabandha had electricity connection, but all the thatched houses were gutted in a major fire in 2018, and the transformers and electrical equipment were destroyed, he says.
