AP: Anakapalli’s Fluoride Villages Await Safe Water
The scheme worked briefly till sand mining around the borewells depleted the groundwater: Reports
VISAKHAPATNAM: Women from Rolugunta in Anakapalli district staged a protest demanding immediate supply of potable drinking water to fluoride-affected villages in the area.
Carrying empty water pots, the women marched through the centre of the colony, seeking relief and urging action from the district collector. They demanded that until a permanent solution is found, drinking water be supplied through tankers.
Water sources in Rolugunta mandal, along with Nindugonda, K. Naidupalem, Kovvur, N. Kothur, Antlapalem Rajupeta, Munipelli, and Gollapeta, had been identified as fluoride-affected in 2003. In 2004, authorities took up a ₹3.5 crore project to provide safe drinking water to 13,000 people. Three borewells had been dug along the Varaha River in Janakirampuram and water pumped to a one-lakh-litre tank that supplied water to Rolugunta via pipelines.
The scheme worked briefly till sand mining around the borewells depleted the groundwater. The population too grew to 33,000.
In 2020–21, ₹6 crore had been sanctioned under the Amrut Dhara (Jal Jeevan Mission). Subsequently, the NDA coalition government at the centre withdrew the funds citing lack of progress on the scheme.
As a result, villagers have continued to suffer; old pipes have burst, repairs are temporary, and borewells yield no water. Even fluoride water is unavailable. Despite repeated assurances from the Rural Development minister that every village would receive safe drinking water, the Rolugunta mandal centre remains neglected.
Several families have spent lakhs of rupees digging private boreholes, yet water is unavailable.
Residents point out that 12 black stone quarries operate within the Rolugunta, Nindugonda, and Kovvur revenue limits. Before starting operations two decades ago, they had promised mineral water plants, tree planting, environmental safeguards, and medical camps. The assurances have remained unfulfilled.
Rural Water Supply (RWS) officials admit that the groundwater along Varaha River has dried up. Given the situation, protesters demand immediate water supply through tankers, so that they do not continue suffering.
Those who joined the protesters included CPM district executive member K. Govinda Rao and villagers V. Nukaratnam and V. Sridevi.
