Rice bugs (red flour beetle and rice weevil) are making life miserable for the villagers living in the surroundings of rice godowns in district.
Since these bugs in godowns live by feeding food grains like rice, lentils, wheat and others, they are also invading the nearby houses, particularly during the evenings.
As the district is famous for paddy production and paraboiled rice mills, a huge quantity of paddy is milled here. While the district alone produces 7 lakh to 10 lakh metric tonnes of paddy every season, the millers too purchase rice from other districts and bring it here for milling. Apart from that, these godowns also house rice to be supplied to Food Corporation of India and to be distributed through the Civil Supplies Department to white ration card holders.
A week ago, villagers of Shilarmiyagudem and Kothagudem villagers staged a protest near Thipparthy, accusing the godown owners of taking no measures to control the bugs.
Speaking to The Hindu , Sk Usenbi, said spraying of chemicals and covering the rice bags with tarpaulins would control the menace to a great extent but the godown owners did not act so far despite lodging several complaints.
It is not only the case of these two villages, a host of villages around Miryalaguda have also lodged complaints with the Revenue Divisional Officer in Miryalagda seeking action against these erring managements of the godowns.
The villagers living near Bhongir and Bibinagar have also submitted representations to Bhongir Revenue Divisional Officer and sought action against the owners.
Another woman from Kothegudem village, Gugulothu Sujatha, said they always have to keep their doors and windows closed during the nights fearing the bugs.
Official blames
godown owners
Kishan Rao, Revenue Divisional Officer of Miryalaguda, observed that there is a visible negligence on part of godown owners since they did not cover the windows of godowns and fails to spray chemicals in regular intervals.
“I have written to the District Civil Supplies Manager seeking action against them. I have also instructed the local Tehsildars to inspect these godowns and prepare a report on violations,” Mr. Rao said.
However, he agreed that the villagers are suffering from rice bug menace.
A week ago, villagers staged a protest near Thipparthy, accusing godown owners of taking no measures to control the problem
