Villagers of Muttagi on the banks of the Kagina in Chitapur taluk which has been marooned by the floodwater for the past four days are still waiting to be rescued. Even now, it is impossible to reach the village owing to the knee-deep slush left behind by the receding floodwater on Sunday.
A visit to the village shows desperate residents surviving on the bare minimum foodgrain provided by a landlord and the LPG gas stove available at the midday meal centre of the government school in the village.
Woman gives birth
Owing to the floodwater surrounding the village, the people are not in a position to shift patients to hospitals. A pregnant woman, Ranabai, gave birth to a healthy male child with the help of elderly women in the village, in one of the classrooms of the government school. The floodwater had entered her house in Ambedkar Colony.
Shivayogi, Ranabai’s husband, said that on Sunday evening, despite making frantic calls to officials and gram panchayat members and other elected representatives, no help was offered.
Snake menace
“For the past four days, ever since the Kagina waters entered our village, we have been living in the dark. There is no electricity and we have been managing without basic amenities including drinking water. We spend every minute in fear of snakes. One boy was already bitten and has been taken to Bankur for treatment by his parents,” says Neelamma, another resident of the village, who has taken shelter in the government school.
Mr. Shivayogi said that none of the officials or elected representatives had visited the village so far, nor had provided the villagers with food or medical supplies in the past four days.
“We were left with no other alternative but to break the locks of the government school and take shelter there. We have been using the LPG gas connections available in the midday meal section to cook food for the past four days for around 50 people. Foodgrain was provided by the sowcar (village landlord) and we took some dal and other condiments from the midday meal centre.”
