As the exact quantum of destruction in Kodagu following the rain and floods is slowly sinking in, the authorities are grappling with the issue of rehabilitating 4,500 to 6,000 displaced people. There are concerns that let alone long-term rehabilitation measures, even providing temporary shelters is fraught with difficulties owing to paucity of land.
‘A challenge’
M. Satish Kumar, Additional Deputy Commissioner of Kodagu, said it was a challenge, but they were in the process of identifying land to construct temporary shelters to house the displaced people. “The structures will be constructed as close to the villages from where the victims were displaced so that they are willing to move in,” he said.
But plantation workers are concerned, as Saradamma and Cheniappa of Haleri village, who are at a relief camp at Suntikoppa, said. “What about jobs in plantations which are the only source of livelihood for us?” said Pushpalatha from Kandankolli, echoing the general concern of their fellow workers.
This is an unsettling question to many as the lives and livelihood of the workers are entwined with that of the landowners who too have been displaced, said Jagdeep, a coffee plantation owner from Makkandur. Many plantations around Makkandur, Mukkodlu, Hattihole, and Madanade have been ravaged.
“The land cannot be cultivated and it would take at least 15 to 20 years to harvest the first crop after restoration of the plantations,” said Muthanna who has property in the area that escaped devastation. This will affect the workers whose livelihood depends on coffee plantation, he said. Already, small growers in the region were talking of the government intervention to procure the land.