cyclones and adverse atmospheric conditions in the sea -Electronic Display Board set up by INCOIS at Nachugunta village

                                                    Fishermen observing the alert being given on Electronic Display Board set up by INCOIS at Nachugunta village in Nagayalanka mandal of Krishna district. —PHOTO: V. RAJU

The Ocean Information System, set up by Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS), an autonomous body under Ministry of Earth Sciences, is disseminating timely data among the fishermen going out into sea from Krishna district.

Fishermen from 20 island villages in the district depend on the data being transmitted by the INCOIS through electronic display and the message system installed at Nachugunta village in Nagayalanka mandal. Information from Indian Space Search Organisation (ISRO) satellites with technology to synthesize ocean features and to capture Potential Fish Zones (PFZs) can be used and passed on to fishermen community.

“Before venturing into the sea, we collect information from the Ocean Information System set up at the Panchayat Office. The system is useful for us particularly during the cyclones and adverse atmospheric conditions in the sea”, said the fishermen.

“Thousands of fishermen and Yanadi tribes of Nagayalanka are dependent on Bay of Bengal and there are about 1,000 fishermen in Nachugunta village alone.

The remaining fishermen stay in Etimoga, Krishnapuram, Brahmayyagari Mula, and Yedurumondi villages. Instructions given by the scientists are very useful,” said fisherman Isnathapalli Pothuraju and former Nachugunta sarpanch S. Vasantha Rao.

“The INCOIS alerts are also useful for us to know the climatic conditions in island villages”, said Mr. Pothuraju. “We disseminate information to our counterparts in Machilipatnam, Kakinada and Visakhapatnam and share the data with the officials concerned.

The information is also useful during tsunamis and natural calamities”, said Lakshmi of a fishermen family.

Relatives of the boat accident victims at Gollamanda in Krishna district on Tuesday.Wednesday, Oct 07, 2003

Twenty-nine persons were feared drowned when a country boat in which they were travelling sank in the Krishna river near its mouth at Gollamanda village of Krishna district this morning. Eighteen bodies had been recovered when the search was abandoned in the afternoon when the tide turned.

The victims were mostly women going for agricultural work and children who came home for the Dasara festival and returning to their hostels. The ill-fated boat fitted with a motor was carrying about 50 people as against its capacity of 15-20. About 20 others in the boat managed to swim to the bank and to a sand bar in the middle of the river.

About a dozen people who survived were shifted to a hospital in Edurumondi and the rest were being treated at a make-shift health camp set up at Gollamanda village itself.

According to Arevarapu Sankara Rao who survived, the tide was coming in and there was very strong wind, the waves were powerful and it was raining at around 7 a.m.

Only one boat ferries people from the Edurumondi island to Etimoga island. There was a rush for the boat in the morning because many wanted cross over to find work in the paddy fields.

Paddy transplantation was being done because the area received some cyclonic rain.

Some students set out for student welfare hostels in Challapalli and Avanigadda. "When boat reached the middle of the river it began to rock violently and water entered into it. The people in boat mostly women began to panic. Suddenly the motor stopped and the boat sank into the river and the people with me drowned. Even though I do not know how to swim I was saved by a bag full of my nephew's books and some logs which kept me afloat, '' Sankara Rao said.

His nephew was however drowned in the mishap.

There was no other boat in the vicinity to come to the rescue of those who were trying to stay afloat and swim in the strong current.

A few minutes later fisherman, Venkataswami, who was returning from a fishing trip came to the spot where the boat sank.

He could not help many because he ran out of fuel at the nick of the time.

Etimoga to Edurumondi

Krishna River Lighthouse Tour

 Interior Light House ( Center of Andhra Pradesh )నదీ సాగరసంగమం The Light House is located in Estuary of Krishna Wildlife Sanctuary in Andhra Pradesh.The Lighthouse is approachable by motor Boat from Avanigadda 15km in Krishna dist and Raju kalwa 7km in Guntur dist.There is a masonry retaining wall provided around the station, which also serves as lighthouse jetty.

History

The Lighthouse was built during 1898-1901 by using heavy lime concrete blocks. The Lighthouse was then know as Kistna(Havelock Point)Lighthouse and was an important aid for Rangoon ship service.This light functioned up to 1940 when Rangoon ship service was decommissioned due to war. The station withstood a devastating cyclone in 1977 which affected the lighthouse. The light could be re-exhibited only after two nights.

Krishna River Boat travel map.jpeg

Where fisherwomen work at night

The chance to explore the scintillating scenes of the Krishna riverside life can be interesting.

There is a unique traditional practice of fishermen community, in which wives accompany their husbands on fishing assignments on river Krishna during the night and the practice is still alive in the island villages of Diviseema.

Overcoming all hurdles, women, including those newly wedded, go for fishing with their life partners on the country boats and are homebound only in the morning. They consider fishing as their sole livelihood option that they were blessed with. When the sun goes down, fishing boats are boarded only by couples and can be seen moving into the river.

Couples from surrounding villages too make their presence felt at strategic locations to catch fish. “It’s a common practice and an unwritten promise existing in our lives that women would help their life partners in fishing, irrespective of the season or age,” is a common explanation offered by the Pallekaru (fishermen) elders from Penumudi and Eelachetladibba villages in Nagayalanka.

SAFE LOCATIONS

There are a few safe locations that have been explored by the couples on the Krishna, close to the confluence point of the river with Bay of Bengal. The popular locations adjacent to the dense mangrove forest, bordering both Krishna and Guntur districts, are Penumudi, Eelachetladibba, Lankivennudibba, Edurumondi, Jinkapalem.

The labour sharing tradition, in which women equally share the responsibility of earning livelihood on a par with men in running the house, is still considered as one of the strongest pillars for successful married lives as well as flourishing joint family culture. “Fishing is a clear sign of how our family cycle is being run without any hurdles. If a healthy woman denies fishing, it means the couple develops differences, putting their family in trouble and that leads to financial constraints,” a village elder Lanka Babu told

The humble punt is an integral part of their lives

Having served as the prime transportation mode for interconnecting the island villages cut off from the mainland, the humble punt existing for a decade in Diviseema Islands, has become an integral part of their lives.

“The punt – which plies between Edurumondi Island and Etimoga – is literally the lifeline for us as we need to cross the Krishna for all our needs. River Krishna is said to be the life-line of Krishna district,” says Nagayalanka-based farmer Bhogireddy Anand Kumar, who owns 24 acres of land.

Basic amenity

From the time of the onset of the monsoon, there are dozens of farmers like Mr. Anand who travel everyday on the motorised vehicle in search of agricultural labour to hire from Edurumondi Island villages – Brahmayyagarimola, Gollamanda, Jinkapalem and Nachukunta and Eelachetla Dibba. The existence of the punt is not considered significant, but taken for granted as the basic amenity.

It survived over a decade helping hundreds of villagers cross the river.

The punt measures only 20 feet in length, but makes unprecedented number of trips between Edurumondi and Etimoga everyday, throughout the year.

In memory of a village elder late Kanna Janardhana Rao of Edurumondi, who played a key role in introducing the heavy vehicle in 2002, it is remembered and immortalized with two sign-hoardings having his photo at both destinations.

A mini-India

During the journey of the punt in the heartland of the fishermen’s world, a mini diversified India can be witnessed as there is no discrimination among the passengers who sit along with others irrespective of their social or financial background.

Having capacity of generating huge revenue by tapping the transportation need of the people on the troubled waters, few villages competed to get the lease over the single punt– to have the right over it to run, operate and transfer back (ROT).

“The Edurumondi Panchayat Committee, which is running the punt since Government had developed it, had recently auctioned it on ROT basis, but a legal battle is going on over the lease agreement now without any effect on regular services of the punt,” Edurumondi Panchayat In-Charge Secretary P. Mallikarjuna Rao told The Hindu.

“The punt is not the sole transporter of human beings and vehicles. It connects us to the Sunday shandy at Nagayalanka to tap the dry fish market,” says Yanadi tribal Chetti Laxmaiah.

A classic example how the punt has turned synonymous with local lives is that the bus plying from Nagayalanka to Etimoga has been named after the punt – by calling it the Punt Bus.