'Govt didn't help us'

 “Give a pack of biscuit to my child and I will give you Rs 10 lakh,” a man from Bangalore pleaded with Vasudeva Reddy of Karuru in Siriguppa taluk of Bellary both of whom were stranded at Mantralaya.

The plight was common to all those people who were stranded there and had taken refuge in many hotels to escape from the floods. Hunger coupled with lack of food and water had scarred their lives.

Vasudeva, a part of a group comprising 300 people including 20 children and 120 women had returned from Mantralaya recently. Vasudeva said, “The government didn’t provide food or water. Though helicopters flew in the sky and one could see minister Shobha Karandlaje waving, none came to our rescue.”  The villagers undertake padayatra to Mantralaya every year. The practice has been in existence from past 14 years.

“A group of daring young men then jumped into the water to collect food items like biscuits and bread from bakeries and also collected puffed rice and beaten rice from residents,” Vasudeva added.