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Amid heavy rainfall and floods that lashed parts of Telangana on Saturday, Mulugu Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA) Seethakka was seen leading from the ground as she personally visited a few villages facing the risk of inundation and asked locals to evacuate from their homes immediately. Seethakka visited the villages of Eturnagaram, Vajedu and Mangapeta in her constituency on Saturday night.
In a video that is circulating on social media, Seethakka can be seen standing in ankle-length water, holding an umbrella in one hand and a microphone in another, talking to her constituents along with other senior police officials. She urged people to evacuate in the buses that were arranged for them.
No one wishes to leave their loving home. But sometimes we need to take the tough decision.
— Danasari Anasuya (Seethakka) (@seethakkaMLA) August 15, 2020
Lifting of Kaleshwaram gates increased inflow of Godavari river& flooding villages in Eturunagaram & Mangapet mandals. Requested people to leave their homes to a safety shelter arranged. pic.twitter.com/O3WpQMWxVM
“We are all with you here. We learnt that about 9.6 lakhs cusecs of water has been released from the Kaleshwaram project, and the gates have been lifted, which will result in floods," Seethakka said.
“Earlier, we were given warnings about flood-like situations, but today, we were not warned until the flood reached some places. So please evacuate as soon as possible,” she added. Urging people not to worry about their belongings as their lives were more important, she further said, “If we are alive, we can survive somehow. So please evacuate.”
Leading from the ground : Mulugu MLA @seethakkaMLA building confidence among people of Eturnagaram, Vajedu,Mangapeta to evacuate as soon as possible as the flood is approaching them. Highly commendable work #Seethakka pic.twitter.com/BvavUh7FJY
— Agasthya Kantu (@agasthyakantu) August 15, 2020
There have been incessant rains in the last one week in parts of the Telangana state due to which several water bodies have overflowed.
Seethakka is a Maoist-turned-MLA and has been elected twice from Mulugu constituency, which is home to a large population of tribal people. She is also All India Mahila Congress General Secretary and Chhattisgarh Mahila Congress incharge. She had received a lot of praise earlier this year when she walked several hundred km to distribute essentials to adivasis in remote areas of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, during the nation-wide lockdown due to coronavirus.
Meanwhile, the rainfall in Telangana will continue till August 17, as per the latest weather warning issued by the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD). The IMD said that there would be very heavy to extremely heavy rainfall in the next couple of days.
Parts of erstwhile Warangal district are the worst-hit and authorities have swung into action to evacuate people in low-lying areas.