Little relief makes life worse for rain-hit

Little relief makes life worse for rain-hit
Deccan Herald

At present, future looks bleak and present a nightmare for the rain-affected people of Bangalore and surrounding areas. Many have been rendered jobless and relief remains inadequate. If heavy rains lash the city again for two more days, as predicted by the weather bureau, their lives are set to turn worse.

Thousands of displaced people, who are praying for the rains to subside and their houses to be cleared of water, do not have any idea on how to rebuild their houses. Inadequate relief measures add to their woes. The innumerable meetings, assurances and visits by authorities have failed to make an impact on the affected, who, at many places, are still deprived of basic needs.

In and around Bangalore, more than 10,000 houses have been inundated. More than 1,000 houses in BMP limits have been damaged. The estimated loss in BMP limits is Rs 70 crore, while in CMCs the loss is Rs 88.70 crore. The government has released Rs 100 crore for relief works in Bangalore. The BMP has opened a camp each in Jayamahal, Azadnagar, Kamalanagar and two in Vrishabhavati Nagar. The CMCs have opened their own camps in their limits. For instance, Byatarayanapura CMC has started four camps and rehabilitated 450 people.

If the relief camp put up at Puttenahalli Government School wears a neglected look, the ones seeking refuge in them look even more forlorn. Children with no adequate clothing to protect them from rain and cold, women who are still waiting for their pair of fresh clothes and men who are staring into the space seem to be the order of the camp.

“My house on the Sarakki tank bed has been submerged. All my belongings have also been ruined. I am in the camp for more than four days and the promised pair of clothes has not arrived,” says Laxmi N. The state of the class room that has been converted into dispensary is not any better.

The K R Puram CMC has converted the three-room under-construction government school at Vibhutipura into a relief centre, housing 38 migrant daily-wage labourers from Raichur. They are jobless for four days and have not got any monetary compensation too. The labourers were residing in tents on the vacant government land next to Vibhuthipura lake. Their tents and belongings were washed away in the rain on Saturday night. An elder of the group, Thimmanna, says that they have been working in Bangalore for the last seven years. When the Deccan Herald team visited the centre at 7.30 pm, Lakshmi (11) was being shifted to a hospital. She has been suffering from vomitting and Diahorea from Wednesday evening, says her aunt.

At the BMP relief camp at Bande slum, Valmikinagar near Mysore Road, women who used to roll enough agarbathis to fetch them Rs 70 per day sit jobless. The displacement has cost them dear. The displaced families, comprising 142 members including children, have been given clothes and food. Resembling dormitories, the camp houses at least five to six members in each room with a common toilet. The BMP provides food in the morning and ISKCON supplies food in the afternoon and evening.

“As of now we have nothing to do but talk and recall that nightmarish day,” says a woman. “Everything is gone. But we at least have our houses. We hope to go back and start all over again,” says Shabeen Taj, another inmate.

The hapless victims now wait for clear skies and sunlight.

(DH Team - Kavitha Kushalappa, Manjusha R, K P N Vijayalakshmi and Shivakumar ND)

STAY INDOORS:

In the next 48 hours, Karnataka is going to be hit again by rough weather spelling widespread rains across the State, reports DHNS from Bangalore on Thursday.

The system is behaving like a madman and changing its course continuously. After intensifying into a depression, it has changed direction unexpectedly from the calculated Northward to the North Westerly path crossing Northern Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh coast, resulting in overcast skies and heavy rains across Karnataka, said A L Koppar, Director, Meteorological Centre. Heavy rain alert signals have already been issued to District Commissioners along with warnings to all government and civic agencies. “It is advised to stay indoors for the next two days” he said.