GADAG: The residents of Nargund town don’t seem to be on firm ground any longer. Something earth-shattering, quite literally, has been happening there for several months now.
Suddenly the ground gives way with a loud sound and then there is a deep hollow.
Frequent cave-in incidents have spread panic among the residents.
Forty-one such incidents have been reported since January this year. No one knows the reason for it. A team of experts is now at Naragund studying the issue and collecting samples.
One of the team members said that the tests will be conducted and soon the results will be shared with the district administration.
Naragund Town Municipal Council Chief Officer S N Pendse said, “A group of experts has been inspecting the spots since the past five days.”
In September, Mallikarjunagouda Patil, a resident of Kasaba had a terrifying experience. He was in the storeroom in his house when he suddenly felt that someone cut the ground from under his feet. He almost fell into a gaping hole and screamed in terror.
Even in such a panicky situation, he managed to hold the sides of the wall and heave himself up a little. Hearing his screams, neighbours rushed to his house and pulled him out of the hole.
Mallikarjunagouda said, “The cave-in was about 20 feet deep. Had I fallen into it, I wouldn’t have survived.”
In another incident, a retired teacher went to his garden to pluck flowers when suddenly the ground gave way and he fell into a 20-foot-deep hole and screamed for help.
The incident happened on Deepavali day. The neighbours at first looked for him all over the place. Then his screams guided them to the spot and they lifted him out of the hole with the help of a ladder.
Places around cave-in sites unsafe: NDRF
Such cave-ins, whose depth ranges from 5 feet to 20 feet, are being reported from Kasaba, Arbhan and Hagedakatti areas where nearly 5,000 residents live.
Ten years back, some cave-ins were reported. A team of the National Disaster and Response Force visited the place and said it was unsafe to live there.
But the residents did not move out.
Last year, the local administration had conducted a survey in the cave-in areas and had asked the residents to shift from there as it was unsafe.
The Kasaba area in Naragund is the epicenter of these cave-in incidents. One theory is that it could be due to quarrying here earlier. Residents are now demanding a permanent solution.