Central team skipping schedule angers flood victims

The Central team which visited Kodagu district on Tuesday, to assess damage due to floods, did not visit the places as mentioned in the schedule and visited only a few places before leaving for Bengaluru.

The team members chose not to visit the landslide-affected Thora village and the inter-state road at Makutta. The attitude by the team has irked the flood victims.

The team headed by Union Home Ministry Joint Secretary Sriprakash, landed at the helipad on the premises of Sainik School, Koodige, at 9 am on Tuesday. They gathered information from the district officials and later visited the relief centre in Nelyahudikeri and the flood-affected Karadigodu village.

As per the schedule, the team was expected to pay a visit to the Makutta interstate highway, which has been severed due to landslides. The team was also scheduled to visit Thora landslide area where 10 people had lost their lives. Cutting their visit short, the officials from the Central team left for Bengaluru in a hurry.

Two MLAs from Kodagu remained absent during the visit of the Central team.

The flood victims said that the officials do not know Kannada and there is no elected representative to convey the problems of the victims to the Central team.

Krishna, a flood victim from Karadigodu said, “People are in despair after losing their house and agricultural land. But the Central team members did not care to visit the collapsed houses and affected farmland. Around 150 houses have been completely destroyed in Kodagu. The officials from the Central team need not have to come all the way from New Delhi to see four houses. We could have sent photographs of the flood-affected places ourselves.”

Another victim, Sangeetha, said that she and her family see a bleak future.

They have been reduced to the state of beggars, she said and requested the government to provide compensation.

She is now sheltered in the relief centre opened at Karnataka Public School in Nelyahudikeri.

“The government should earmark and allocate houses to the flood victims in safe places. The lands encroached by influential people should be cleared and the land should be distributed among financially deprived classes,” she added.

After the study visit, the officials said they are aware of the condition in Kodagu.

The team has gathered information from the officials. A preliminary report on the flood condition in the state will soon be submitted to the Central Government. The government will compensate the victims suitably, they said.