With livelihoods lost and no help in sight, people in several villages cry for support from the government to fix their ravaged houses.
Published Aug 08, 2024 | 9:00 AM ⚊ Updated Aug 08, 2024 | 9:00 AM
Malali village in Mudhol taluka continues to be in floods for the last one week in Bagalkot district. (Supplied)
Thousands of people residing in the several villages of Belagavi and Bagalkot districts in Karnataka face a new nightmare following their return to homes starting on Tuesday, 6 August, since the floods that left them in the relief camps receded.
As the floodwaters recede, they are staring at the herculean task of clearing their houses that have been transformed into mud-filled swamps.
With no immediate financial assistance from the government, affected families are struggling to pick up the pieces and rebuild their lives.
The relief centres that were once a haven now seem like a distant memory, as the harsh reality of their flooded homes sets in.
With crops destroyed, livelihoods lost, and no help in sight, the people in several villages are crying out for support from the government to fix their ravaged houses.
Meanwhile, the officials claim that the government would be able to extend the compensation or relief only after the survey was completed, which would take place only after the flood waters completely recede.
On the other hand, the government has made elaborate arrangements for the affected people and cattle at the relief camps, with providing basic facilities from food to medical assistance for the last week.
As the rain has taken a break in the Western Ghats and Maharashtra, the water levels are gradually dropping in the Ghataprabha, Malaprabha and Krishna rivers, relieving the people in its basin of further worry about the floods.
People expressed outrage and disappointment towards the state government for failing to provide immediate financial assistance to affected families, leaving them to face the aftermath of the devastating floods without any support.
Incessant rainfall in the Western Ghats and catchment areas of the Krishna River basin has resulted in the Ghataprabha, Malaprabha and other rivers, in the Belagavi Region, flowing at alarming levels, flooding around 200 villages and displacing over 6,000 families.
Belagavi and Bagalkot districts are the worst affected. Around 200 villages have been flooded and crops have been damaged completely in nearly 50,000 hectares. As several villages flooded, around 6,000 families were accommodated in the nearby relief centres.
As the water levels lessened in these rivers, people started returning to their houses only to witness that their living spaces completely turned into chaos with at least 2ft slush accumulating inside most of the flood-hit houses in Mudhol, Rabkavi-Banahatti, Athani and other places.
“I am a resident of Mirji village (Mudhol taluka of Bagalkot district) which has been ravaged by floods due to the overflow of Ghataprabha River. We returned to our home from the relief centres as the water receded in our locality,” Chinnappa S Jaliberi, a farmer, told South First.
“Around 50 families reside in our locality and most of them belong to the Scheduled Caste (SC) and Scheduled Tribe (ST) communities. They all are hit by floods. We were compelled to leave relief centres as the administrators of the private school, where the relief camp was set up, stated that they would open the school for children in a day or two,” he said.
“None of the government officials intervened or made alternative arrangements for us. The government has provided us good food and other basic facilities in the relief camp but it is not overwhelming when we step out of the camps,” added Chinappa.
When asked about the current condition of their affected house, he pointed out: “Around 2 ft high mud has been accumulated in our entire house. We have started removing the slush and cleaning the entire house as it was submerged. There is no assistance from the village panchayat or the taluka administration,” he said.
“When there was a flood in 2019, the then government had given us ₹10,000 as immediate relief amount. This relief money helped us to sanitise and clean our houses. Now, with no financial and manpower assistance, we are being compelled to clean our houses alone,” Chinappa said.
He added that he was planning to accommodate his children either in one of the relatives’ houses or the relief centre as the house was not yet fit to sleep.
“The water levels are receding for the last 24 hours. Several people have returned to their houses from the relief centre since Tuesday morning. There were around 145 families in our relief centres and now a mere 35 families are taking shelter.”
“We are unhappy with the government over relief works. There were no issues in the relief camps as the facilities were satisfactory. The government should have extended immediate financial assistance up to ₹5,000 to remove slush and sanitise houses,” Ramu Patil, a farmer from Masguppui village in Mudalagi taluka at Belagavi, told South First.
“As most people hail from farming backgrounds, they are already under distress over crop loss. It is inhumane that the government is not keen on extending any help after the floods. The government must understand our financial difficulties as well,” he said.
Patil urged the government to provide immediate financial help to take up cleaning and sanitisation work of their affected houses.
People dwelling alongside the Ghataprabha, Malaprabha and Krishna rivers can heave a sigh of relief as the water level gradually decreases after two weeks. Following this, people are returning to their houses from the relief centres.
As the aforementioned three rivers are in full spate, around 200 villages were flooded in Bagalkot and Belagavi districts.
This affected over 6,000 families, with respective district administrations continuing to accommodate at least 10,000 people in the relief centres.
In Belagavi, at least 34 relief centres are still operational. Whereas in Bagalkot, over half of the centres were closed owing to the drop in water levels. In Mudhol taluka, seven relief camps are still open in Rabkavi-Banahatti and one in Bilagi, accommodating nearly 400 families.
“Gokak, Athani, Nippani, Kagwad and a few other talukas have been hit by floods. In a relief, the water levels are dropping in all the major rivers. The number of relief centres came down from 58 to 34 in the affected areas,” Belagavi Deputy Commissioner Mohammed Roshan told South First.
“We have set up a combined helpline (including the police department) for flood-hit areas. We have 36 boats to take up the rescue and other work during floods. There is no dearth of funds as we have ₹58 crore in our PD account, where ₹19 crore has already been disbursed for the affected talukas,” added the Belagavi DC.
When asked about the relief works, he said: “We will able to carry out survey works only after the water completely recedes. We have to conduct detailed agriculture and horticulture crop loss and revenue loss. IMD has issued a red alert for Maharashtra for next week as well.”
“However, we will have a three-day buffer period to move people to safer places once Maharashtra starts to release water. We will continue to be on alert,” stated Roshan.
While most of the relief centres are still operating in the Belagavi district, several have been shut down in the Bagalkot district as water levels dropped in the Ghataprabha River, especially in the Mudhol taluka.
“We have closed most of the relief centres in Mudhol and Rabkavi-Banahatti, considering the drop in water levels. People have started returning to their houses. We are also sanitising, cleaning and fogging in the affected villages,” Bagalkot’s Jamkhandi Sub-division Assistant Commissioner Shweta K told South First.
“We have also made proper fodder and medical arrangements for the livestock as well. There has been no discharge of water from the Koyna reservoir for the last two days. This is a clear indication that the water level will reduce further,” she added.
“As we are achieving good coordination with our counterparts, we can control floods to a certain extent, by controlling inflow and outflow at Lal Bahadur Shastri Water Reservoir (Almatti Dam). The floods lasted for about one week in the region. There is no dearth of funds,” stated the Jamkhandi AC.
(Edited by Muhammed Fazil)
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