No leaves for Hassan district administration officials till rain subsides

HASSAN: Taking exception to Kendriya Vidyalaya’s decision to conduct classes on Thursday despite the district administration’s order instructing all educational institutions to remain closed, Hassan deputy commissioner Akram Pasha has sought an explanation from the management of the school.
A National Highways Authority engineer who was not present at a meeting Pasha convened on Wednesday to take stock of the situation in the district has also been asked to explain her absence.
The monsoon having gathered momentum, the district has been reeling under the onslaught of unrelenting rainfall in the past few days. Agricultural farms have been inundated, as have many houses. Sakleshpur and Belur taluks in the district have particularly had the worst of it. Against the backdrop of mounting woes, Pasha has made it plain to all officials in the district administration that they will have to be ready to attend to problems round the clock. Officials will not be granted leave unless there is a letdown in the intensity of rain in the district.
Meanwhile, at the DC’s instance, teams have been constituted at every hobli in the district to attend to emergencies in the flood-hit Malnad district. Data available with the district administration indicates that as many as 14 villages have been affected by excessive rainfall across Hassan. In all, 24 houses across the district have been partially damaged. On the other hand, standing crops across 21 hectares have been lost.
The woes of residents in waterlogged Sakleshpur town were further compounded by disruption in power supply. The livelihood of scores of shopkeepers was plunged in jeopardy with 50 stores on Azad Road getting inundated. Meanwhile, trucks have been forced to take a circuitous route out of Hassan with the Charmadi Ghat Road being closed.
A staggering 20,000 cusecs were released from Hemavathi Dam in Gorur.