Belgaum: The former Minister and Congress leader Prakash B. Hukkeri, MLA, has criticised the Government's assessment of the damage caused by flood and incessant rainfall in the district.

At a press conference here on Tuesday, he said the preceding Congress-Janata Dal (Secular) Government headed by N. Dharam Singh had released Rs. 4,75,36,106 as compensation for the loss of sugarcane, soya bean, groundnut and other crops damaged owing to floods and excess rainfall in 27 villages in the Sadalga Assembly constituency represented by him last year.

The present Government had released only Rs.2,74,41,695 this year.

Last year, villages on the banks of the Krishna river were affected by floods and excess rainfall for 15 days and crops in 25,949.55 acres of land were destroyed, affecting 14,619 farmers.

This year, all the 27 villages were in the grip of floods for 28 days in July-August. The rainfall recorded was three times more than that last year, he said.

The district administration had not carried out a proper assessment of the damage and had thereby deprived the farmers of due compensation.

Mr. Hukkeri said the Deputy Chief Minister had staged a dharna in front of Deputy Commissioner's office here last year, demanding a compensation of Rs.10,000 per acre for loss of sugarcane crop and Rs. 5,000 for other crops. But after coming to power, he was now speaking a different language, Mr. Hukkeri alleged.

He pointed out that the Government had not paid interim relief of Rs. 1,000 for the flood-affected families. The previous Government had disbursed the relief all families last year, he said.

Exploitation

Drawing attention towards exploitation by sugar factories in the district, Mr. Hukkeri said that seven sugar factories based across the border in Maharashtra had paid a minimum of Rs. 1,250 to Rs. 1,600 per tonne for sugarcane supplied by growers in Belgaum district.

The factory managements should realise the problems of sugarcane growers, who were facing financial hardships owing to floods for two consecutive years and pay at least Rs. 1,400 per tonne this year.

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