Fact-finding visits to the flood-affected areas in Bagalkot district to expose the violations of the rights of children and their affected families
Posted on December 21, 2019
Team CWC visited 7 flood-affected Panchayats – Gulgal Jambagi, Vantigodi, Baragi (Mudhol Tq), Kudalasangama, Hiremagi (Hunugund Tq), Pattadakallu, Aihole (Badami Tq) to learn about ground realities of children and their communities, post floods. A unique challenge in this district is in Pattadakallu as it is under ASI jurisdiction as a UNESCO Heritage. In Pattadakallu, there is no clarity regarding the role of ASI and the role of local government in providing support to communities in relation to flooding – both seem to be ineffective at this point in time.
Gulgal Jambagi witnessed unexpected floods. Roogi belongs to this Panchayat and was subjected to flooding when a small dam broke, with just 10 minutes available to rush to the nearest safe place. Children, elderly and animals have suffered a lot. Few other villages that were expected to drown in the floods were intimated earlier and hence people carried their important belongings to a safe place but those who were not have lost their important documents and belongings. In the past, they had never witnessed a flood so brutal as this one and were totally taken by shock by these unprecedented floods. In Vantigodi, the entire Panchayat office has been inundated and all public documents are irretrievable.
Children and the elderly have suffered extensively due to the floods. In places like Pattadakallu and Roogi children have to walk several miles to reach school. This is both time consuming and tiring. Children say this is affecting their studies. We found that basic facilities like water supply, electricity, toilets, etc. were not yet provided. School buildings in almost all the Panchayats visited have been ruined and children are gravely affected by it. In Vantigodi and Pattadakallu temporary sheds are built to conduct classes but they lack even basic facilities like shelter and toilet facilities. Toilets in Gulgal Jambagi have been completely destroyed and no repairs have been carried out yet.
We learned that in Pattadakallu, temporary sheds are set up where over 60 families are accommodated. These sheds do not have bathrooms or toilets. Women have built temporary ones using their sarees for privacy, with a woman standing guard when the toilet is in use.
The A B C categories that have been made in order to extend compensation have many errors. People say deliberate attempts have been made to ignore genuine victims and give compensation to privileged families. In some villages, submissions have been made to provide compensation to all and not just those affected. According to people, this is due to the pressure by the influential and rich in the community. This demands an inquiry into such submissions and the fairness of the processes being used to determine compensation.
CWC, along with two other local organisations, REACH and BIRDS, facilitated a press conference in Bagalakot regarding the situation of the communities affected by the flood. 35 Representatives of children and 5 community members took part in the conference on December 17th. There was very good presence of media persons from newspapers as well as news channels. There has been very good media coverage following the event.
The issues raised by children during the event included lack of water supply in temporary sheds; inadequate and erratic electricity supply affecting their studies; lack of adequate bus facilities that forces them to walk to school for miles on end; and rusting of cycles, their only mode of transportation due to flooding. Children also highlighted that may houses have started to reveal cracks and that they are worried whether or not they will get compensation if those their homes face further damages. They mentioned that while textbooks have been distributed by the government, other school related essentials have not been, and they are unaffordable. Though some of these issues were raised in the Makkala Grama Sabhas, the Panchayats are yet to respond.
Press Conference to expose the violation of rights of children and affected families due to severe floods in Belagavi district and Meetings with DCof Bagalkot district:
CWC, along with two other local organisations, REACH and BIRDS, facilitated a press conference in Bagalkot regarding the situation of the communities affected by the flood. 35 Representatives of children and 5 community members took part in the conference on December 17th. There was very good presence of media persons from newspapers as well as news channels. There has been very good media coverage following the event.
The issues raised by children during the event included lack of water supply in temporary sheds; inadequate and erratic electricity supply affecting their studies; lack of adequate bus facilities that forces them to walk to school for miles on end; and rusting of cycles, their only mode of transportation due to flooding. Children also highlighted that many houses have started to reveal cracks and that they are worried whether or not they will get compensation if those their homes face further damages. They mentioned that while textbooks have been distributed by the government, other school-related essentials have not been, and they are unaffordable. Though some of these issues were raised in the Makkala Grama Sabhas, the Panchayats are yet to respond.
Having taken note of the issues covered in media following the press conference, Honorable Minister for Education, GoK, Sri Suresh Kumar reached out to CWC and sought further details regarding the situation in Bagalkot with a special focus on education-related concerns. He requested us to send him our field visit reports. He has assured us that he will personally visit the Panchayats referred to by us and take necessary actions. Our reports for both Bagalkot as well as our submission made to DC Belagavi have been shared with the Minister for his perusal.
During our discussion with him, we have brought to his notice, the reluctance our delegation encountered from DC of Bagalakot to listen to the issues we raised. We made a special mention of his impatience with and rudeness towards children, who had put in a lot of effort to travel from their villages for the meeting. The Minister has also assured us that he will take action against DC in this connection.
Read the detailed press note regarding our fact finding visits here: Pressnote related to situation of Flood affected area – Bagalkot
Read the extensive press coverage here:
