The Hindu : Karnataka News : Shifting of 700 villagers from Turadagi begins

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Aug 11, 2004

Karnataka

Karnataka

Shifting of 700 villagers from Turadagi begins

By Suresh Bhat

Turadagi village was hit by water discharged from the Alamatti Dam on Tuesday.

TURADAGI (BAGALKOT District) AUG. 10. The Bagalkot district administration on Tuesday started shifting villagers from Turadagi to safety as water from the Alamatti Dam entered the residential area. The increased water discharge from the dam has caused alarm in the downstream.

The 700 residents of the village located on the contour of the Narayanapur Dam had a horrendous time today as water inundated a substantial portion of the village. Besides submerging the approach road to village, water marooned many houses.

What frightened the villagers was the presence of a crocodile in the floodwaters near the marooned village school. As there was no let-up in water discharge till noon, the administration decided to shift the villagers.

Temporary residence

The Assistant Commissioner, Bagalkot Sub Division, S.G. Patil, told The Hindu that the villagers of Turadagi would be located at a primary school building in the neighbouring village of Beesaladinni temporarily.

A range forest officer with staff had been sent to the village as some reptiles were sighted in the water.

According to the preliminary estimate, he said, the land that was not acquired was submerged in 22 villages on the right bank of the Krishna, especially on the contour of Narayanapur Dam.

Villages such as Nagaral, Domanal and Bommanagi (Bagalkot taluk) and Katagur and Beesaladinni (Hungund taluk) were severely affected, Mr. Patil said.

Children have fun

While the elders were a worried lot, the children of Turadagi had fun in the sea of water at their doorsteps. They attended school after wading through water. Parents rushed to school to take custody of their wards after a reptile was sighted near the inundated approach road. Meanwhile, the authorities decided to close the school till the water receded.

Shivappa Koreddi, Hanumanthappa Chalvadi, Shivappa Dodmani, Amogsidda Dollin, Devendrappa Siddappa Dodmani and their family members could not sleep on Monday night as water started entering the village. By morning, many houses were marooned.

Reptiles

Shivanand Dollin, a tailor in the village, said the villagers were afraid of reptiles in the floodwaters, as at least two persons had fallen victim to them in the recent times. While 18-year-old Basu Teliganamani fell prey to crocodile in the 2002 flooding season, Saraswati Basappa Yalagutti (16) died of snakebite in the last week of July. The reptiles have also claimed several heads of cattle.

Demand

The villagers demanded that their land and property had to be acquired and they be permanently shifted to a rehabilitation centre. Compensation had to be given for crop loss. At present, to minimise the effect of flood, the storage at the Narayanapur Dam had to be kept at a low level, they said.

Submerged

It appeared water had spread at least 100 metres beyond the submergence boundary. Kudalasangam-Seetimani Road was inundated at Valkaldinni.

In Beesaladinni, also a village in Hungund taluk, water submerged the north side of the village road, and women washed utensils and clothes at the ridge of the road today.

Bheemavva Doli, an octogenarian widow, said she had never seen such surging of water even during the 1998 floods.

Heavy discharge

More submergence came in the wake of heavy discharge from the Alamatti Dam. The water discharge, which was about 1.75 lakh cusecs on Monday, was increased to 1,98,869 cusecs in the early hours today. The level of Narayanapur Dam downstream was constantly maintained at 491.8 metres.

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