After years of standing at the borders of their nation, these soldiers have returned to their homes, but there Namaste Nalukettu LABISANTH K. SC, Ph.D. 103094 The soldier is fighting a different kind of battle with the help of restoration of the critical governance in the village of Madhavaram in the period of West Godavari District, now known as M P. ”Military Madhavaram. This derives from the context that this village was annexed to the East Godavari district during the state’s 2020 (AP) District Reorganization.
Delicate, amazing, enjoyable, simple and analytical are the words adopted in this piece. A memorial constructed by soldiers of the village located at the periphery of the pond bears the inscription that “as many as ninety soldiers f rom the village of Madhavaram went on to war during the first world war (1914-18). One martyred. 12001 people fighting second one between 1939 to 1945 belonging to this village and eleven were deceased.
Madhavaram is derived from the name of Maharaja Madhava Brahma Varma of the Gajapati dynasty of Orissa who was known to have established a fort with a garrison at Arugolanu to protect his territory. Arugolanu is 6 KMs distant from Madhavaram where the ruins of the fort were present till about 10 years back.”
MESA has been able to coordinate the reconstruction of important assets in the village like resuscitating a library that has been defunct for the past two decades, repairing a culvert swept away by the flood in 2022, construction of a running and tennis track to prepare the local youths for defence services as well as completing work on the unfinished gym.
President of MESA and a retired officer Hon. Lt. Guda Sundara Rao shares his grievances. “As much as two decades have gone since that old building in the village center became neglected. But the building itself still remains in good condition. We have written to the Panchayat Raj Department requesting them either to hand the building to MESA or to restore the said library, but nothing has been done. Now birds are nesting there.”
The palatial building of the library which is numismatically known as West Godavari District Board Library, was opened in 1935. Previously books which were in this building were transferred to Tadepalligudem. At present, Its wooden book shelves are kept hood items of the security guard of the village. Hon. Lt. Sundara Rao, whose retirement from Indian Army’s Artillery followed his service in the Kargil War in 2002, disclosed, “There is a need to appreciate the fact that the library was closed due to the authorities’ inaction. In this case, the library serves no relevance to the youth because it has been abandoned with no furniture to housed books.”
Furthermore, out of approximately 6000 residents of Madhavaram, a majority have a predilection to serve in the army with most families having atleast 3 generations in the army as a apprentice.
Havaldar Gopisetti Bharatudu who has been out of service from the Indian army for the last 20 years states, “Enlisting oneself in defense services is an age-old practice handed over to sons from fathers without fail. Such a practice is still present in our village.”
In 2022 BDL Hyderabad has sponsored assistance for infrastructure development of the village through Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) contributions.
“Ministry of defense’s BDL sponsored ₹5 crore grant for the construction of a gym, a community hall and a science laboratory to the Government Junior College,” stated Havladr Gharisheda Bharathudu. These achievements were inaugurated online by then Minister of Defense Rajnath Singh. Except for the fact that the gym has been closed because there are no weights and no provision made in the project for the promised second stage of an additional ₹11.32 crore to be spent on the development of the village which was one of the goals in the planning stage.
The plan which was also made for a running track of 400 metres on the shores of the village pond has also been put on hold. Going by Mr. Bharatudu, the idea was abandoned after the death of the Endowment Minister and local leader Pydikonda Manikyala Rao in 2020. ‘Our demands for construction of facilities for training of the youth, both physically and mentally for pursuing defensive profession, do not sound that strong any more,’ he said, recalling how the former Minister helped them gain financial resources through BDL.
The village also bore brunt during the Godavari floods of 2022, which destroyed crops and swept away a vital culvert linking Madhavaram and Nidadavolu. ‘Our village is however stuck without an access to Nidadavolu. We cant take this route by two wheeler or any car. Similar flood every monsoon increases the damage to the culvert,’ explained Bandreddi Srinivasa Rao, a retired soldier of the Madras Engineering Group Regt of the Indian Army. Some ex-servicemen in spite of the continuous requests from ex-servicemen to reconstruct the culvert have met with no forward movement.
Most recently few of the Madhavaram youngsters have joined Indian army through the Agnipath scheme released by the central govt in the year 2022. The first group of Agniveers shall be completing their first tenure after 2026.
In a show of unity, the soldiers and ex-soldiers of Madhavaram pooled in resources to put up the MESA building adjoining the Soldier’s memorial near the pond of the village.
