They were ordinary men who did extraordinary, selfless acts for a larger cause during the days of water.
Rescue work during 2023 monsoon floods in Telangana. (Supplied)
Heroes are ordinary people who make themselves extraordinary, goes the saying, Adversity brings out extraordinary traits in people. It makes ordinary men and women ignore the self and act for a common cause.
However, such heroes and their acts often go unsung. The Telangana government, however, is not willing to let their daring acts go unnoticed.
It has decided to acknowledge their selfless acts and honour them on Independence Day. Koppula Santosh Goud, an employee of the state’s Electricity Department, is one among them.
Santosh Goud normally reads electricity meters and delivers power bills to households. He takes up additional tasks as and when required. On 27 July, Goud did something that he had not done before.
Incessant rains were lashing Atmakur in the Suryapet district when a part of the mandal plunged into darkness on the night of 26 July.
Santosh. (Supplied)
“We couldn’t do much in the darkness,” recalled the 32-year-old resident of Patharlapahad in Atmakur.
Water bodies, including lakes that normally dry up in summer, were overflowing. “By the next morning, strong winds had snapped branches and uprooted several trees that took down with them the power transmission lines,” Goud told South First.
“We cleared the trees and switched on the power at the substation. It was then that we identified a fault in the line. However, it was dangerous to go and fix the problem since there was water all around, and water conducts electricity,” he remembered.
Along with a lineman, he checked every pole in the area and found the fault at a transformer located in the middle of Chembunni lake — the biggest in the village.
The discom looked helpless. Colleagues and senior officials advised Goud to put off repairs until after the water had receded.
“We tried other ways to rectify a faulty jumper cable. When we couldn’t find any alternatives, I told them that I would try, and if I felt unsafe, I would turn back,” he said.
Why did he take the risk? “The area is familiar to me. I was confident that I could manage. I swam for 100 metres, repaired the cable and restored the power,” he said with a smile.
Goud had repaired the main pole supplying power to three village panchayats: Patharlapahad, Kothatanda, and Boringtanda, “That was why we had to repair it as soon as possible,” he said.
Telangana’s Minister of Energy G Jagadish Reddy, Suryapet’s representative in the Assembly, congratulated the youth.
“It was a happy moment for me,” Goud said. However, he has an unfulfilled dream.
“It would be helpful if the department made me a permanent employee. I am the eldest in the family,” said Goud, the father of two boys, aged four and two. One of his brothers is a software employee.
“He earns only a meagre amount and the other one has finished his graduation but is not working now,” he explained.
Mohammad Rahman, 31, is a junior lineman with the Jangaon office of the Telangana State NPDCL (Northern Power Distribution).
Mohammad Rahman. (Supplied)
On 27 July, the skies opened up around 2 am, uprooting trees and damaging the power lines.
“Power supply to three villages was disrupted. These transmission lines had snapped at Dharmapuram town’s chreuvu (bridge), where the feeder provides electricity to the Padamara Tanda, NC Tanda, and BR Tanda villages,” Rahman told South First.
Rahman and his team managed to restore power through an alternative agriculture line feeder. However, it was temporary. Heavy rains rendered the bypass ineffective, and the department had no other option but to repair the main line.
“The pole that was to be repaired had been partly submerged by the overflowing lake. It was impossible to reach the pole without a boat,” Rahman detailed.
He used a makeshift thermocol (polystyrene) boat to approach the pole that was some 500 metres away. After detecting the problem, he returned to get a chainsaw and rope to fix the issue.
A resident of Kamareddygudem in Janagaon’s Devarpulla mandal, Rahman doesn’t feel he has done anything extraordinary. He sees it as a part of his duty. The man is happy that the government has recognised his efforts.
Police Sub-Inspector (PSI) Naresh of Koyyur in the Jayashankar Bhupalpally district is grateful to his grandfather for helping him save two lives.
Police Sub-Inspector Naresh of Koyyur.
Naresh and his team were on high alert ever since the rains started pounding Bhupalpally around 26 July midnight. Soon, all lakes overflowed, and the Ganpuram river breached its banks.
The next day, the Moranchapalle village was marooned as the roads were inundated with floodwater. As the water kept rising, the villagers took refuge on rooftops and used their mobile phones to alert the police.
“We could not reach them. The Army was called in the next day,” the officer said.
“The police team visited PV Nagar as the situation worsened. A woman told us that her son had taken a tractor to their farm, and got stuck there. We went to the submerged farm and saw the tractor some 300 metres away. However, we were not sure if there was someone in the vehicle,” Naresh said.
The officer said they noticed some movement about 30 minutes later. “There were two persons,” he recalled.
“I took a rope from the vehicle and entered the water, since arranging a boat would take at least two hours, and the water was still rising. The head constable and others followed me. We rescued the farm-owner, a man aged 25, and the tractor’s 26-year-old driver,” the officer said.
The PSI said his grandfather had taught him to swim when he was in the seventh grade. “I swim regularly,” he said.
Circle Inspector Ramnarisimha Reddy. (Supplied)
Meanwhile, in Moranchapalle, the police under Circle Inspector Ramnarisimha Reddy were searching for four villagers who had gone missing.
“Since we could not trace them, we used drones and found two bodies floating at different locations a few kilometres downstream of Moranchavagu. The deceased were later identified as G Sarojana, 60, and Odireddy, 70,” he said.
“The bodies were decomposing. Superstition prevented the villagers from retrieving them. I motivated them to get the bodies,” he added.
“When I carried one body, they became confident and brought the other body ashore,” he said.
The officer said he was informed about the award on Friday, 11 August. “I feel very happy,” he told South First.
Teacher Payam Meenaiah put up a brave façade even as panic gripped him on 27 July. The heavy rainfall showed no signs of abating and water kept rising. He knew he was running out of time.
“The government had declared a holiday for schools. But since ours was a residential school, the students were still in the institution. We packed the essentials and walked through the rain for 2 km. By then, the school’s first floor had been submerged,” recalled Meenaiah, who teaches at the Tribal Residential School in Kondai Village of Eturnagaram Mandal in the Warangal district.
The teacher recalled that it was a first-of-its-kind experience in his entire career of over 17 years.
Once out in the rain, the teacher took the students to his house, which was safe from floods. With the help of two cooks, he fed them till their parents arrived on boats two-three days later.
“I was felicitated for the work I did on World’s Indigenous Day, 9 August, and have been invited to Hyderabad to receive the award on 15 August. But I request the government to repair the damaged infrastructure and construct two more floors,” he said.
A nauseating musty smell now hangs heavy in the classrooms. Works are on to reopen the school soon.
Banoth Srikanth, employed with the Northern Discom, is not among those who will be honoured on Tuesday, 15 August. Yet, he finds a mention here.
Govindapur, Boring Thanda, Modrayigudem, Mokallapalli, and Chakrala Thanda villages in Mahabubabad district’s Kothagudem section plunged into darkness when the waters of the Pakalavagu lake brimmed over and inundated the riparian areas on 28 July.
Srikanth. (Supplied)
Srikanth was assigned the task of restoring power to the five villages.
“Snapped electric lines had fallen into the water, cutting the power supply to the villages. The transformer was hissing. There was also a breakdown of supply to the 11-kW feeder to Pogullapalli from the Pegadapalli sub-station,” the 29-year-old resident of Reniyatanda village in Kothagudem recalled while speaking to South First.
He waded through the gushing, chest-deep floodwaters. In some places, he had to swim. Srikanth left his safety rubber gloves behind as they hampered his progress to the repair site.
Swimming itself was strenuous. “I took short breaks to catch my breath while climbing the poles. I carried out the necessary repairs and restored power to the villages,” said the ITI diploma holder.
Srikanth has been working for a nominal monthly salary of ₹8,000. “If I am made a permanent employee, I can earn more and help my family. Also, the government job has additional benefits,” he said wishfully.
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