BELAGAVI: Several taluks in Belagavi district, home to 18 Assembly constituencies, are reeling under severe drought this year owing to a poor monsoon. However, in a meeting held at Suvarna Vidhana Soudha in Belagavi on Friday to discuss drought, only two of the 18 MLAs from the district were present.
The meeting was headed by Belagavi district minister Satish Jarkiholi and attended by MLAs Mahendra Tammannavar and Vishwas Vaidya. Rajya Sabha member Iranna Kadadi was also present.
Women and Child Development Minister Laxmi Hebbalkar, MLA for Belagavi Rural, also was not present at the meeting.
The other MLAs who skipped the meeting are: Asif Sait (Belagavi North), Abhay Patil (Belagavi South), Vithal Halgekar (Khanapur), Mahantesh Koujalgi (Bailhongal), Ashok Pattan (Ramadurg), Babasaheb Patil (Kittur), Ramesh Jarkiholi (Gokak), Balachandra Jarkiholi (Arabhavi), Nikhil Katti (Hukkeri), Ganesh Hukkeri (Chikkodi), Raju Kage (Kagwad), Laxman Savadi (Athani), Shashikala Jolle (Nipani), and Duryodhan Aihole (Raibag).
Several people from different parts of Belagavi have questioned the absentee legislators as to who should find a solution to the crisis people are facing in their constituencies due to drought if they are not keen on attending important meetings in the larger interest of people of their constituencies.
According to officials, the Belagavi district is facing a 61% deficit in rainfall this year. The meeting on Friday was to discuss crop loss, a solution to overcome the water crisis, and to find a lasting solution to the agriculture crisis in the district.