Even as flood waters receded from villages in north Karnataka, the political crisis that erupted in the state BJP government, caused a setback to relief work. It resulted in the government going slack at a crucial moment. It has left the flood affected with little or no succour over a month later.
The whole of old Tungabhadra village, for example, was flattened by the rising river. The waters reached the new Tungabhadra village a kilometre away damaging houses there too.
Strangely, all the residents of the old Tungabhadra village are now finding that they have not been made eligible in government documents to receive the Rs 37,000 compensation for flood damaged homes announced by the BS Yeddyurappa government.
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 to the region. ?There have been no proper assessments, 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,? said Eeranna, a 50-year-old resident of the old Tungabhadra village whose roof now is a canvas sheet.
Gram panchayat officials in many of the affected villages talk of anomalies and delays stemming from the political crisis that stretched between October 28 and November 8.
?There seems to be some sort of discrimination even with the distribution of compensation cheques. Those believed to be BJP supporters are getting the full amount while others have got only token amounts,? says KM Vishwanath Swamy a member of Kudrahalu gram panchayat.
At many places, the anticipation of visits of chief minister BS Yeddyurappa or key ministers in the BJP government for the inauguration of flood relief works, in the post political crisis scenario, is now seeing a sudden flurry of release of compensation amounts.
Over 75 cheques were given in the Bichale village in Raichur on November 12, ahead of Yeddyurappa?s visit to inaugurate a modern ?Bangalore-style housing colony? for 950 flood affected homes, with funding by IT major Cisco Systems.
Companies like Cisco, Infosys, and Biocon which have been major donors for rehabilitation work have found themselves delayed in the process of starting construction work by the political crisis.
?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 was then transferred out as part of the political tussle,? says Somashekhar, a resident of Macholi village in Bellary district.
It was in fact a Rs 500 crore flood relief related housing project ?Navagrama? for the people of the Macholi village, initiated by the Reddy brothers as a challenge to chief minister Yeddyurappa?s attempt to gain monopoly on the credit for flood relief work, that on October 28 spilt the simmering pot of dissent within the Yeddyurappa government.
With the Reddy brothers dropping their rebellion on November 8, the focus is now returning to flood relief work. Revenue minister G Karunakar Reddy and chief minister Yeddyurappa were seen together in public for the first time at the inauguration of the construction of a new village in Koppal, on November .