VALPOI: The Ragada river which flows through the Shel Melavli village started over flowing on late Friday morning. This blocked the road to Melavli village causing immense hardships to villagers. The Ragada is a tributary of Mhadei River. According to villagers this is the first such incident in recent history. The flooding caused havoc and tension for villagers and students who could not go about their daily routine.
Villager Viswhwaraj Sawant said, “Once again, there has been flooding in Sattari. Friday morning there was flooding of the road such that, there was no way to approach the village of Shel Melavli. How did this happen. While there is less water in Mhadei, how did Ragada river get flooded? We cant understand this. ”
Anil Melekar said, “It is only this year that there has been flooding. Otherwise this area is not used to flooding. There is less water in Mhadei. There is some way water from outside ( rain water) must have got into the river.
Gautam Naik reasoned, “The heavy rains since Friday morning has led to water from Tambdi Surla to seep into the river. Therefore the river has swollen. Now there has been flooding twice. It happened eight days ago and today. The road was flooded from 11am till 2 pm. No vehicles can pass on this road. Students had to go through the cashew plantations on the mountains to get to school.”
Another villager Ajit Desai, “Government has to think of a permanent solution for this flooding. After the rains, after 15 or 20 days, this road gets flooded. There are students who go to school. Ladies too have to go to work, they have to suffer badly. Government has to think of a permanent solution.”
Viswhwaraj Sawant added, “Some students stayed back in Usgao due to the floods. Parents were extremely worried. They could not contact their children since there was no range.”