1c) Beyond Relief:  Sayanna Gadda Floods

    Since 2005, Sayanna Gadda, a canal that passes through several villages in Santakavita Mandal where we work,  has been flooding 2500 acres of agricultural land during monsoons every year.  In 2006-07, the government as well as AID-India offered to compensate for seed and crop loss.  However the villages refused relief and demanded a solution by way of desiltation of Sayanna Gadda Canal.  “ilA avutunTE vyavasayam lo sukham ledu (If this canal keeps flooding, there is no point in farming),” stated a farmer at a 2006 meeting in Salipeta village.   AID India mobilized villagers in 25 villages under the banner of Sayanna Gadda Mumpati Grama Sangham [Sayanna Gadda Flood-affected Village Committee], and filed complaints from every village with the collector and the irrigation department.  A major challenge was to unite people across party lines in villages such as Buradapeta and demand in one voice the repair and maintenance of the canal.   Along with this campaign AID India provided bricks and continued malnutrition and other programs in the affected villages.

Village Mobilization meetings in Buradapeta, December 2006.  People's campaign helped lead to government sanction of Rs. 3.4 crores for repairing Sayanna Gadda canal.

    In March 2008, our efforts as well as that of local groups bore fruit when the government announced Rs 3. 4 crores budget to repair the canal.   Work has begun and in 2008 there was no flooding.

    The success of mobilization and follow-ups by the villagers and AID India coordinators in 2007-2008 has reinforced people's confidence in the power of coming together and speaking out in an organized way on issues facing the village.  In this case it appears to have strengthened the hands of engineers as well as leaders (like the Samiti president who has long been concerned about Sayanna Gadda maintenance) who may have been making efforts at the government level to implement effective solutions.

    As Buradapeta schoolteacher Madan Master quipped at a village mobilization meeting, “manamu kadalakapote, vALLu kadalaru (for the government to move, we have to move).”  Many people in these villages say that AID India, by demonstrating that collective effort can bring results, has provided an effective counter to routine cynicism.

Reference:  Press Note on Sayanna Gadda Floods

Below are photos showing Sayanna Gadda canal before and after repair.

BEFORE (above): Silt and vegetation have reduced effective area of Sayanna Gadda canal to less than 20% of capacity.  (Buradapeta, January 2007)

AFTER (below): Sayanna Gadda -- After Desiltation (Buradapeta, January 2009)