People who lost their homes and all their belongings owing to landslips in parts of Mudigere taluk are bracing themselves to spend some more days in the relief centres set up by the district administration. For, it is not just houses, but entire villages — such as Malemane, Madhugundi, Channahadlu, Alekhan Horatti, and Baluru Horatti — have virtually disappeared.
Those who went back to fetch any recoverable valuables had a hard time identifying even their land. Heaps of silt is collected in vast tracts of agricultural land owing to landslips and heavy rain. There are not even documents to show that they lived there all these years and hence they are staring at a blank future.
Poornesh Mathavara, a resident of Banakal, told The Hindu , “Some of the affected people are in their relatives’ places. They have no place to return. The disaster is unimaginable.”
The district administration has set up 26 relief centres across the district and as many as 2,100 people are being provided with shelter there. Officials are assessing the damage caused and also checking if those who have lost thier houses can reconstruct them in the same place. Kumara, Additional Deputy Commissioner, told The Hindu that officials were busy taking care of the affected people at relief centres. “We have to check if houses can be constructed at the same place afresh. We have to check the suitability of the land. If the land is not suitable, the administration has to look for alternative land,” Dr. Kumara said.
The government, after verifying the scene, could provide up to ₹12,400 per hectare for desilting of agricultural land, the officer said. Besides that, the farmers would get relief for crop loss.
Cancer patient dead
Kittu Pujari, who was stranded at Halagadka near Durgadahalli in Mudigere taluk, died in the district hospital on Wednesday. He was suffering from cancer. An Army team rescued him on Monday and carried him for about 8 km on their shoulders. “As he needed treatment, we shifted him to the district hospital, where he died today. We have given his family an ex gratia payment of ₹5 lakh,” said Dr. Kumara.
