It has been more than a year since a family of Chickpet near Hosanagar moved to a relief centre after their house collapsed during heavy rains in August 2019.
Even as the locality was battered by another spell of heavy rains this year, the family continues to remain in the relief centre, thanks to a delay in providing them with an alternative facility.
The four families settled at Chickpet were badly hit during the heavy rains last year. The residents are daily wage workers with no land to cultivate.
A house collapsed completely, while three other houses developed cracks, forcing them to move out. The local administration set up a relief centre at a government quarter meant for Health Department staff, which was unoccupied, for them.
A couple of days later, when the rains receded, three families, headed by Suresh, Udaya and Subramanya, returned to their places, while Sumitra Bangari’s family remained at the centre as their house had collapsed completely. Many officers, elected representatives visited the place and promised the affected families of relief. As none of the four families had the land of their own, they could not get the relief amount meant for repair or construction of a house.
The recent rains also battered the village again. Ms. Bangari, who stays with her two children in the relief centre, said she had appealed to local panchayat officials and Revenue Department repeatedly for a solution to the problem.
“Whenever we raise our demand, the officers ask us to remain in the relief centre until an alternative arrangement is made. How long should we continue to stay there?” she questioned.
All four families have appealed to the district administration to provide them with permanent relief.
Shivamogga Deputy Commissioner K.B. Shivakumar visited the village recently and spoke to the affected people.
He said that efforts were being made to identify three acres of land for Ashraya sites in the village.
