For years, the residents of Kamma Kandriga, a picturesque village 7 km away from the temple city, have been sharing their lives and living spaces with one of the most common ‘winged’ visitors! A few yards into the village, past the dingy government school, highlights their precarious situation. Every nook and corner of the village is infested with swarms of houseflies and villagers are found swatting their way to oblivion!
This has been a recurring problem in the village for the past 4-5 years.
Those who can afford metal or plastic nets have clamped them across every possible entry into their houses, while others resort to age-old procedures like swatting, disinfectants and spraying of pesticides.
Majority of them choose to remain indoors and wrap eatables, drinking water etc., with protective covering.
The issue is so pronounced that several religious rituals in the temple of village deities, Virupaskhamma and Gurrappa Swamy, are done amidst swarms of flies, buzzing in for ‘prasadams’ offered by the villagers.
“The density of flies has increased exponentially in the past few months, giving a hard time to the villagers. Even the children at the local government school are tormented by these flies, especially during the lunch hours, during which they swarm in large numbers. Preventive steps like spraying of chemicals has proven unfruitful as they come back in a few days,” said village sarpanch C. Janardhana Chowdary.
Many villagers have attributed this menace to the presence of poultry farms, found right in the vicinity of the village. “The poultry owners have increased the number of sheds and subsequently the number of hens (10 lakhs).
Failure to maintain hygiene and negligence in conforming to the poultry maintenance regulations has aggravated the situation,” said Ananda Naidu and Jayarama Naidu, residents of the village Kamma Kandriga.
A committee of veterinary experts and officials, constituted by the Chittoor district administration, have voiced the same reason during their inspection last week.
They visited the poultry farms and suggested remedies such as regular spraying and supplementing the poultry feed with medicines. “We have also advised them to clear the droppings regularly and opt for closed disposal pits, instead of open ones,” they added.
However, some of the villagers chose not to find fault with the poultry owners, as relocating the same would result in huge losses. “All we want is a permanent solution to the fly menace,” they appealed.
Unhygienic conditions in poultry farms near the village result in the menace
