More than 250 families of Tarapur village in Sindagi taluk of Bijapur district, which has been flooded by the overflowing Bhima, were shifted on Monday to a government primary school where a gruel centre has been set up.
However, the people have not been provided with basic amenities. A farmer from the village, Shivappa S. Kallolli, said that no food had been provided to them since Sunday afternoon. The people have managed to get some rations from nearby villagers and are preparing the food on their own. The gruel centre has no kerosene to prepare food, he said.
Crops on hundreds of acres in the surrounding areas have been destroyed. “If the bordering districts in Maharashtra receive continuous rainfall, the flood situation will worsen,” he said.
Officials in the Minor Irrigation Department said it had been decided to relocate the village to a safer place three years ago. Plots had been allotted to the residents on 18 acres of land a few kilometres from the village. They blamed the slow pace of work by the contactor concerned for the delay in shifting the village.
When asked about the delay, the contractor Shrikant Biradar alleged that the authorities had not cleared his bills. “Though more than 80 per cent of work has been completed, officials have not cleared two bills for Rs. 50 lakh and Rs. 75 lakh. They keep saying that the Government has not released funds and they can’t clear the bills,” he said.
He added that Ramesh Bhusnur, MLA, who visited the spot on Monday, had promised to arrange for release of funds by the Government and that the bills would be cleared as soon as possible.
