Karnataka: Flood-hit villagers await relocation

BELAGAVI: The plan to relocate residents of villages lying along the banks of rivers in Belagavi district historically prone to flood has remained on paper for more than a year.
Flood has become a calamity that recurs every year since 2019, and residents of villages lying not very far from banks of the rivers crisscrossing the Belagavi landscape have been living in a state of fear.
As many as 34,145 people across the border district have been impacted following heavy rainfall, which has, in turn, resulted in several villages getting inundated in the waters of the overflowing rivers.
In 2019, nearly 400 houses collapsed in Kilabanur village in Ramadurga taluk, following which the government assured the residents of relocating all of them to a safer place.
Similar assurances were given to residents Yamagarani and Jugul villages in Nippani taluk, who have also borne the brunt of successive floods, but the promise has remained just that.
BS Yediyurappa, who visited the flood-hit villages on the eve of resigning as the CM on Sunday, informed the people that the government had identified, across the district, 50 acres on which new houses would be built for the residents of the villages vulnerable to flood.
Ramakant Patil, a resident of Ramadurga whose life is among the many upended by the flood, told TOI, “None of us in any of the villages prone to flooding have been relocated. Each year, the district administration deploys personnel from the state and national disaster response forces, who shift us to the rehabilitation centres. The food at these camps is very poor. It is very clear that we have to deal with the monsoon’s fury, and sooner we are relocated the greater are the chances of lives being lost.”
Mahantesh Dole, a resident of flood-hit Yamagarani village, sought to remind Yediyurappa of a promise the latter had made in 2019 to relocate the people to a safer place.
“Two monsoon seasons have elapsed since he made that promise. He gave us the same assurance when he visited Belagavi on Sunday. How long will the people have to wait?” Dole asked.
Activist Ashok Chandaragi said, “Leave alone relocating people in flood-prone villages. The government is yet to disburse compensation to owners of 9,000 houses that were destroyed in the flood two years ago. Residents of nearly 30 villages need to be shifted to a safer place at the earliest, but given the current political situation, the people’s plight seems to be the last thing on the mind of the elected representatives.”