Shivakumar G Malagi /October 13-2009
Ten days after the waters receded, 80-year-old G Pampathaiah returned to his village T. Santhe Kudloor in Sirguppa taluk of Bellary district, some 70 kms from the mine-rich city of Bellary to attend the funeral of his childhood friend Kasheem Sab. The friend who survived the floods, died of heartbreak after the worst floods in the history of the state washed away his home as well as others in this once prosperous village, leaving carcasses of cattle littered across the fields, with crows and dogs feeding off the flesh.
Pampathaiah's village sits on the banks of the Tungabhadra, and borders Kurnool in neighbouring Andhra Pradesh, the confluence of the two states which has seen the worst damage. TS Kudloor's 360 families -most of them well-to-do and educated -- left to shelter under tents from whatever fabric they could salvage, as they scrounged for medicine, relief and food from the handful of voluntary organisations that braved the rain and provided the basic amenities, well before the district administration got there.
"It's deeply upsetting to see the dignified people I know, reduced to rags and standing in queues waiting for food like beggars," said the old-timer.
"This is a shame. The district administration has sent relief material to only some villages but it took them seven days to get to my village in TS Kudloor. People were forced to fend for themselves till then. They are emotional and physical wrecks."
Officials insist that sufficient food is being provided at gruel centres and relief camps. But as Deccan Chronicle toured this forgotten corner of Bellary -home to the wealthiest mine owners in the country -children who lined the road-side from Hachcholi to TS Kudloor were begging for food and clothes from anyone who drove up to the village. "I cannot bear to look," said Venkatesh Shetty, a `kirana' merchant from Bellary.
The nearby villages of Hachcholli, Kudadarhal, TS Kudloor, Matur, Sridhargadde, Kothalachinte villages, all in Sirguppa taluk screamed `failure' as The authorities put up some make-shift bamboo and iron sheet sheds on the outskirts of Hachcholi village on Sunday for homeless families but hundreds in T Santhe Kudloor and Kudadharal were still in make-shift tents.
Said Pampathaiah "The extent of damage cannot be put into words as the residents have lost everything, including property records and ration cards. Records kept at the Raitha Sahakar Bank in Hatcholli village have been damaged and efforts are on to dry the records in a bid to retrieve some of them. The fertilizer stock kept in the bank godown has dissolved, leaving only empty bags."
A medicos' team of the National Rural Health Mission and district health department has been visiting these villages to check the health status of the flood affected. "Healthcare facility is absolutely dismal in the interior villages. Only God can save these people if an epidemic breaks out since the drains are blocked, remains of dead cattle are stuck in fields and people have still not been supplied chlorinated water," said S.Shivanand, NSS nodal officer, working with college students in the interior villages bordering Andhra.
Another issue which proves the failure of the district administration is the `illegal' excavation of sand from the flood-ravaged river bed of Tungabhadra.When the whole administration is focused on rehabilitation work, illegal sand miners have made banks of rivers Tungabhadra and Hagari into a haven for sand mining. At the cut-off Raravi bridge site in Siruguppa, 20 tractors were engaged in sand excavation though it is not allowed down the bridges as per norms.
Pampathaiah's village sits on the banks of the Tungabhadra, and borders Kurnool in neighbouring Andhra Pradesh, the confluence of the two states which has seen the worst damage. TS Kudloor's 360 families -most of them well-to-do and educated -- left to shelter under tents from whatever fabric they could salvage, as they scrounged for medicine, relief and food from the handful of voluntary organisations that braved the rain and provided the basic amenities, well before the district administration got there.
"It's deeply upsetting to see the dignified people I know, reduced to rags and standing in queues waiting for food like beggars," said the old-timer.
"This is a shame. The district administration has sent relief material to only some villages but it took them seven days to get to my village in TS Kudloor. People were forced to fend for themselves till then. They are emotional and physical wrecks."
Officials insist that sufficient food is being provided at gruel centres and relief camps. But as Deccan Chronicle toured this forgotten corner of Bellary -home to the wealthiest mine owners in the country -children who lined the road-side from Hachcholi to TS Kudloor were begging for food and clothes from anyone who drove up to the village. "I cannot bear to look," said Venkatesh Shetty, a `kirana' merchant from Bellary.
The nearby villages of Hachcholli, Kudadarhal, TS Kudloor, Matur, Sridhargadde, Kothalachinte villages, all in Sirguppa taluk screamed `failure' as The authorities put up some make-shift bamboo and iron sheet sheds on the outskirts of Hachcholi village on Sunday for homeless families but hundreds in T Santhe Kudloor and Kudadharal were still in make-shift tents.
Said Pampathaiah "The extent of damage cannot be put into words as the residents have lost everything, including property records and ration cards. Records kept at the Raitha Sahakar Bank in Hatcholli village have been damaged and efforts are on to dry the records in a bid to retrieve some of them. The fertilizer stock kept in the bank godown has dissolved, leaving only empty bags."
A medicos' team of the National Rural Health Mission and district health department has been visiting these villages to check the health status of the flood affected. "Healthcare facility is absolutely dismal in the interior villages. Only God can save these people if an epidemic breaks out since the drains are blocked, remains of dead cattle are stuck in fields and people have still not been supplied chlorinated water," said S.Shivanand, NSS nodal officer, working with college students in the interior villages bordering Andhra.
Another issue which proves the failure of the district administration is the `illegal' excavation of sand from the flood-ravaged river bed of Tungabhadra.When the whole administration is focused on rehabilitation work, illegal sand miners have made banks of rivers Tungabhadra and Hagari into a haven for sand mining. At the cut-off Raravi bridge site in Siruguppa, 20 tractors were engaged in sand excavation though it is not allowed down the bridges as per norms.
