NGOs Jagruta Mahila Okkoota and The Concerned for Working Children, which conducted a survey in flood-affected villages of Belagavi, have submitted a memorandum to the Deputy Commissioner seeking better compensation to victims.
Based on surveys conducted in Maskenahatti, Mangenakoppa, Pashchapur, Managutti and other villages, the NGOs have said that most of the assurances given by the State government had not reached deserving beneficiaries. They demanded that all damage surveys be discussed and approved at the gram panchayat level.
As many as 280 families in Pashchapur have lost their houses. But none of them have proper documents and are therefore unable to seek compensation. They also need legal support to file their applications, said the report. Secondly, the survey of damaged houses had not been done transparently. Activists demanded that the survey be held in the presence of women and children of the household. Most families have no clue about the categorisation of their houses based on extent of damage and the reasons behind it.
Crop damage survey had not been done properly in some villages and destruction of top soil should also be considered, they have demanded. Over 4,000 classrooms had been destroyed or damaged. In several villages, different classes have been clubbed together. “In Maskenahatti, several boys and girls had dropped out of high school due to damage to roads and lack of transportation,” said the report.
MNREGA should be utilised to build rural infrastructure and to provide jobs to locals. The terms of the scheme should be extended to provide 100 days of work per individual and not per family.
