RAICHUR: Mirroring the severity of the drought situation, Gram Panchayat (GP) members hailing from Lingasugur taluk are now migrating to Bengaluru.
Mass migration of agriculture labourers, small and marginal farmers is not uncommon in the northeastern district of the state. Every year, despite the MGNREGA (Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act), people migrate due to unavailability of work here. A majority of migrants work as construction labourers in cities such as Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Pune and Maharashtra.
This year, with 50 per cent deficit rainfall and 70 per cent crop loss in both kharif and rabi seasons, the condition has worsened. As a result, GP members of two village panchayats, Mattur and Nagalapur from Lingasugur, have migrated to Bengaluru. At least four GP members are reported to have moved out from the district in search of work.
Mallikarjun, Panchayat Development officer (PDO) of Mattur told The New Indian Express that two GP members, including Basavaraj Buddinni, have migrated to Bengaluru. He said, “Basavaraj works in a private company in Bengaluru but I don’t know where the other person works.” he said.
Basavaraj, a GP member, who migrated to Bengaluru, said drought and corruption in village panchayat forced him to migrate to the capital city. “Because of drought, no crops were harvested and moving out was inevitable. On the other hand, corruption in village panchayat is high. For any government work, people have to bribe leaders and this is one of the reasons why MGNREGA was not properly implemented,” he said.
Jyoti Bai, PDO of Nagalapur village panchayat, said two people migrated from here. Jyoti blamed severe drought for migration. “It was common small and marginal farmers migrating, but GP members are going out is happening for the first time in this village panchayat,” she said. The economic burden due to lack of rain and massive crop loss is the key reason for this.