While Karnataka waited for relief…

In many villages where relief camps have not been built,farmers continue to live among their fallen houses,hoping the BJP government in Karnataka will soon give out the compensation they were promised. The government had assured them that either their homes would be rebuilt or they would get new homes in 156 new villages under Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappas Asare scheme.

The waters have receded but the villagers continue their wait for relief. The two-week standoff between Yeddyurappa and the Reddy brothers of Bellary,ministers in the BJP government,has pushed back relief work and left the flood-affected with little succour,even 40 days after the floods.

On the afternoon of September 30,after water from the swollen Tungabhadra rushed into her single room thatched house and rose to nearly a foot,55-year-old Lakshmamma had reluctantly abandoned her home in the old Tungabhadra village in Raichur district. The next day,the river rose another 10 feet,Lakshmamma says,pointing to the clumps of straw stuck in the tree above her ruined house. The old Tungabhadra village with its 30 houses was flattened by the rising river. The waters reached the new Tungabhadra village a kilometre away,damaging houses there too. The Manthralayam bridge near the village was swept away by the floodwaters.

But all the residents of the old Tungabhadra village,including Lakshmamma,have now found out that they have been left out of the governments list of victims who are eligible to receive the compensation of Rs 37,000 for flood damaged homes. Less damaged homes in the new village,however,suddenly received cheques for full amounts ahead of a visit by the Chief Minister on November 13,says Lakshmamma.

I dont know on what basis they are giving compensations. There has been no proper assessment,those with little or no damages to their houses have been given the full compensation while houses that have been completely damaged have only got an initial grant of Rs 4,000, says Eeranna,a 50-year-old resident of the old Tungabhadra village.

Gram panchayat officials in many of the affected villages also talk of several anomalies and delays stemming out of the political crisis that continued between October 28 and November 8 that set back the flood relief work.

In the 200-household Kudrahalu village of Bellary district,where a group of flood relief workers died after their boat capsized,Venkatesha,a farmer,who has gone back to his flood-affected village,said he received the full compensation amount of

Rs 37,000 on November 12,a few days after the political crisis in the BJP government was resolved.

There seems to be some sort of discrimination even over the distribution of compensation cheques. Those believed to be BJP supporters are getting the full amount while others have got only token amounts, says K.M. Vishwanath Swamy,a member of the Kudrahalu gram panchayat.

With the political crisis in the state now resolved,people say that in many places,compensation cheques have been distributed in anticipation that the Chief Minister or key ministers in the BJP government would visit the area to inaugurate flood relief work. Over 75 cheques were distributed in Bichale village in Raichur on November 12,ahead of Yeddyurappas visit to inaugurate a Bangalore-style housing colony for 950 flood-affected homes,with funding by IT major Cisco Systems.

During the political crisis,no government official visited our village. Our requests for a village accountant to make a list of the damaged homes went unheard. The DC visited us once and assured all support but he was transferred as part of the political tussle, says Somashekhar,a resident of Macholi village in Bellary.

BELLARY district has been at the heart of the post-flood politics and the BJP rebellion that had threatened to prematurely sweep away the Yeddyurappa-led BJP government.

In fact,it was a housing project for the people of flood-hit Macholi village in Bellary that brought the brewing dissent within the ruling party out in the open on October 28. The housing project,Navagrama,was initiated by the influential Reddy brothers of Bellary as a challenge to the Chief Ministers attempt to allegedly corner credit for flood relief work. Yeddyurappa responded to the Reddys inauguration of the Rs 500 crore-Navagrama project by transferring out the DC and other government officials considered close to the Bellary brothers.

Little has,however,been done at the Navagrama housing site since its inauguration on October 28. The people of Macholi,who would have been shifted here,now live in a relief camp. Those unable to wrench themselves away from their homes of many years or those who had got tired of waiting for their new homes,have since returned to their village.

At the relief colonies,there is anxiety too. Electricity connections have yet to be given. Lists of people eligible for new homes in the new colonies proposed by the government are yet to be prepared. With their crops damaged,the men have little to do. Also,land acquisition for new villages has been slow.

During the crisis in the government,all relief work in the state had largely come to a standstill,say officials in the villages. Work on partially damaged bridges,like the Pothnal Bridge on the key Raichur-Gangavathi highway,was abandoned.

With the Reddy brothers dropping their rebellion,the focus is now slowly back on flood relief. On November 13,revenue minister G. Karunakar Reddy,who was one of the key rebels,and Chief Minister Yeddyurappa were seen together for the first time at the inauguration of the construction of a new village in Koppal district.

Karunakar Reddy has demanded the immediate repair of damaged roads and bridges. According to PWD minister C.M. Udasipart of the Yeddyurappa campwork on the Pothnal Bridge will be completed in 20 days.

Apart from breaking bridges,damaging homes and causing deaths,the floods have left in its wake a weakened Chief Minister at the head of the first BJP government in South India. Yeddyurappa has had to sideline several of his trusted aides in the course of making peace with the Reddy brothers over the last week.

For instance,businessman and MP Rajeev Chandrashekhar,who was picked by Yeddyurappa to head the flood relief work and who was at the forefront of raising private funds of over Rs 100 crore for flood relief,has not been seen at recent flood relief events. Chandrashekhars appointment,which the rebel camp says was done without consulting Karunakar Reddy,was prominent in the list of grouses that the Reddy brothers held against Yeddyurappa.

Over the years,floods and droughts have played key roles in Karnatakas politics and the ability of chief ministers and governments to handle the crisis has often determined their future.

The crisis may be over but the air of uncertainty remains. At Bichale village in Raichur,where the chief minister was present when the foundation stone was being laid for a new village on November 13,a policeman told a school kid rushing for the ceremony: Run,you may not see Yeddyurappa as chief minister for long.