Farmers flood central team with litany of woes

Dharwad: Grim faces of farmers and damaged standing crops welcomed the central study team that visited Dharwad district on Thursday to assess the damage to crops and property due to the floods.
The two-member team comprising Ashok Kumar from Union ministry of Jal Shakti and V V Sastry, from ministry of road transport visited the flood affected areas in Hubballi, Navalgund and Annigeri taluks. The farmers explained their plight caused by the floods for the second successive year.
“The rains that lashed in the last week of August and first week of September dashed all our hopes of getting a good yield. Facing all odds, we had borrowed money from banks and invested in the fields expecting a good yield. When the time for harvest was round the corner, the rains played spoilsport damaging crops spread over several acres. Maize, cotton, green gram and black gram were totally destroyed causing a huge loss” the farmers pleaded and urged the government to come to their rescue.
Holding the withered crops, the farmers formed a queue to meet the central team officials and narrate their plight. Dharwad deputy commissioner Gurudatt Hegde received the central study team. They were briefed about the plight of the farmers and those who had lost their houses and cattle due to floods in the district.
The team visited Kiresur where the fields are inundated by Benne Halla water and Hebasur where a school building was damaged. The members also saw the fields affected by waterlogging in Yamanur and Kalwad in Navalgund district and the damaged houses in Bhoganur and Khannur. On their way to Gadag, the team members also saw the badly damaged road in Basapur in Annigeri taluk.
Hegde informed the team that 1,172 houses have suffered damage due to heavy rains and floods from July 1 to September 5, while crops in 97,000 hectares have been lost. Three persons lost their lives in the floods and 410 school buildings and 160 anganawadi buildings were damaged in the district, the DC said.