The Hindu : Karnataka News : Only a few things to cheer about in 2007 for Haveri

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Karnataka

Karnataka

Only a few things to cheer about in 2007 for Haveri

Staff Correspondent

It still continues to look like a taluk centre

Farmers continue to be a neglected lot
KCSF employees not given arrears

HAVERI: The year 2007 was like the previous ones for Haveri district as usual, bereft of development, with only a few things to cheer about.

The suspended work on the Upper Tunga Project failed to resume and the sole cooperative sugar mill in the erstwhile Dharwad district at Sangur is still defunct. While the district received comparatively good rainfall during the monsoon, in some places it was more than required. Excessive rainfall had also caused the Tungabhadra, the Kumudwati, the Dharma and the Varada to overflow and displaced a larger number of people in Ranebennur and Hirekerur taluks.

Floods

The floods in August inundated 2,400 acres of farmland in the district, severing road connectivity between several villages leaving them isolated for almost three days. While the affected families got financial assistance to have their houses repaired, they are still to get compensation for crop loss. They are still in the process of rebuilding their lives.

Sugarcane farmers continued to be the most affected in the district as the Karnataka Cooperative Sugar Factory (KCSF) at Sangur stopped crushing sugarcane, with the contractor leaving work midway. Irked by the delay in lifting the sugarcane from the farmlands and the delay in payments, farmers staged several agitations but to no avail.

The suicide of sugarcane grower Ramanna Basavantappa Dundannavar (65) brought to light their suffering. Even before sugarcane crushing was stopped, upset over the delay in taking the crop from his farmland, Ramanna of Balmbeed village in Hangal taluk, set fire to his field of sugarcane and committed suicide in the inferno.

While farmers still await payment for sugarcane sold to the factory, they are also a worried lot as the next yield is due for harvest.

Employees’ plight

The plight of the employees of KCSF and their family members is equally bad. The employees, who had continued working despite not being paid for more than a year, now hope that their arrears will be given, owing to an agitation taken out by their wives in front of the Deputy Commissioner’s office.

Camping on the Deputy Commissioner’s office premises, they now hope that at least the New Year would bring in some cheer. The superseding of the management board of the factory, and the recent meeting held by the Commissioner of Sugar on its revival, has made them hopeful of an early solution.

Although the district still continues to look like a taluk centre, some development did take place during the year. Several road development projects were implemented much to the relief of the residents.

The Kaginele Development Authority finally became functional, with the posting of a commissioner. Now projects worth Rs. 6 crore have begun taking shape. On the political front, it was a bad year for the Congress, as the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Janata Dal (Secular) wrested power in four urban civic bodies this year. On the educational front, residents of Haveri district also were in for some good news.

Colleges

Apart from a government decision to set up an engineering college in Haveri, the district was sanctioned eight government degree colleges, 18 pre-university colleges and 34 high schools.

Blackbucks

While the receding number of blackbuck at Ranebennur had become a cause of worry among wildlife enthusiasts, the setting up of a peacock sanctuary at Bankapur and the growing number of “winged visitors” to the district, was of some relief to them.

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