AP: Locals say officials want money to clean

Alampur (Andhra Pradesh): One meal a day, a few packets of water and unending worry. For flood-hit villagers of Alampur in Mahboobnagar district Andhra Pradesh, every day is a struggle. Known for its century-old temples, all that remains of Alampur today is submerged ruins and dirty lanes.

So where does that leave the government's claim of cleaning up on a war footing?

Thirty-year-old Mujeeb - struggling to get the slush out of his home for six days now - says, "There were dead animals outside my house. We complained so much but no one came to our aid. But when the Chief Minister had to visit, everything was cleaned up overnight."

Chief Minsiter Rosaiah was confronted by angry villagers on his first visit to Alampur. Locals say only a VVIP visit got the municipal administration going.

However, the village is now seeing unlikely heroes like 26-year-old Mritunajay Reddy, a software specialist in Bangalore, who returned to his village to help with relief work.

He spoke with CNN-IBN of the simmering corruption in the area. "It has come to our notice that a few volunteers and officials are demanding money to help people clean their houses - almost Rs 2,000 per room," he stated.

Another worrying issue is that people from neighbouring villages are taking away relief material, posing as flood victims.

A donor, Sambashiva Reddy says, "There is so much indiscipline and chaos here. There is no streamlining of work and it is scaring away donors like us."

More than 10 days have passed since flood waters first inundated the temple town of Alampur. The state has been claiming relief work is in full swing but relief material - like clothes littered all across the town - tell a different story altogether. Locals complain of indiscipline and lack of urgency in government relief work and say officials must pull their socks up if they really mean what they say.

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