People of Kadabur, a village with around 500 houses, live in fear every rainy season. Heavy rainfall in the Bhima catchment areas in Maharashtra and Karnataka, leading to heavy discharge from Ujjani and Veer reservoirs in Maharashtra or Sonna Barrage in Kalaburagi, means sleepless nights for the residents.
Situated close to where a minor tributary meets the Bhima, Kadabur has been identified as one of the “flood-prone” villages in Kalaburagi district. As the elders in the village recall, it has suffered many floods in the last 50 years, including the devastating ones in 1998, 2009, and now. Yet, the government’s promise to shift the village to a safer place remains unfulfilled.
Worst hit
Even in the recent floods, Kadabur was one of the worst-hit villages in the second week of October. Flood water entered this village and literally drowned nearly 200 houses in low-lying areas, destroying everything in its wake — foodgrains, clothes, electronic items, and so on.
“We left behind everything and took shelter in the houses of relatives and friends and also in school buildings that were at safer places. When we came back after a week, everything in the houses was destroyed,” recalls Lakshmibai, a resident of the village.
Since 1948
Shivakumar Patil, one of the eldest in Kadabur who has seen many floods devastating the village since 1948, said complete shifting of the village to a safer place was the only solution.
“When heavy floods struck the village in 1998, the administration decided to shift the village to a safer place. However, it has not completely materialised. In 2009, only 64 houses were shifted. Some people moved into them and others remained in the village. When the floods hit, officials and politicians come to the village and give assurances of shifting the village, but forget it later,” Mr. Patil said.
According to Akthar Police Patil, another prominent figure in the village, Sannati Barrage built across the Bhima about 12 km away downstream is an additional threat to the village.
New threat
“The backwater of the barrage always threatens the village. We panic when the area receives heavy rainfall or heavy water is discharged from the reservoirs and barrages upstream as it would raise the water level in Sannati Barrage. The government is planning to increase water storage from the present six metres to eight. If that happens, parts of Kadabur and Kollur villages would be under water,” Mr. Police Patil said. “We don’t want just compensation that the government offers every time floods hit. Let the government shift our village to a safer place so that we can live in peace,” Sharanu, a young farmer, said.
