Two young men have reportedly gone missing after falling from their bike on a flooded highway in Telangana. The incident occurred only a couple of days after Mulugu MLA Seethakka had warned people of the danger of inundation and flooding along the National Highway 163, which connects Mulugu in Telangana to Bhopalpatnam in Chhattisgarh.
According to reports, the two missing men, Allam Sivaji and Allam Kaviraju, belong to Bandarupalle village. They were on a bike when they lost their balance on the flooded highway and fell down, and have gone missing since then. The incident is reported to have occurred near the Medi vagu (stream) on NH 163.
“Two days ago, I warned about national highway 163 flooding and resembling a river and today unfortunately two youth slipped from a bike into water and are missing. The police rescue team is in action but who is responsible for this?” MLA Seethakka said in a tweet on Thursday afternoon.
Two days before I warned about national highway 163 that it’s looking like river today unfortunately two youth slipped from bike into water and lost,police rescue team is in action.
— Danasari Anasuya (Seethakka) (@seethakkaMLA) August 20, 2020
But who is responsible for this?@TelanganaCMO @PMOIndia @INCIndia @MahilaCongress @RahulGandhi pic.twitter.com/tzME7dc70F
Local police and rescue personnel have been engaged in rescue operations all day, looking for the two missing men.
Earlier on Tuesday, Seethakka had shared a video of the highway along with a message.
“This isn’t any river. It’s the national highway 163 surrounded by paddy crops. This is what floods have done to us.The Govt should do the needful immediately to help the farmers,” she wrote in a tweet.
In the video, Seethakka spoke about the threat of inundation or submersion of several villages nearby, including Mulugu, Palsapalle, Bandarupalle, Papayyapalle,
“With continuous heavy rains in the past few days, the Godavari, and many rivulets and streams are overflowing, as well as the Ramappa cheruvu (lake),” she had said, adding that the highway was submerged in backwaters and water from the Jangalapalli lake.
She said that the highway would soon turn useless, unless the government extends the embankment on the Ramappa lake to prevent inundation of the highway. “Hundreds of acres of agricultural land around Ramappa lake are being damaged (due to the overflowing of the lake water). Relief must be provided for them (farmers),” she had said.