GADAG : Some villages in Gadag district are turning into old age homes because of a large-scale migration of youth and able bodied men to big cities and towns in search of jobs.
Employment is hard to come by here as there are no industries in these parts. Also, heavy rainfall this year, and loss of two successive crops have forced the youth to move to cities in search of livelihood. Extreme low wages is the other reason for the migration.
Though villagers are normally busy in their farms during this time of the year, they are sitting idle now due to heavy rainfall. With the youth and men gone, these villages wear a deserted look, with senior citizens huddled inside their homes. To find a solution to the employment problem, hundreds of farmers from Halligudi and surrounding villages have offered 1,500 acres of land for industries to set up shop here. In 2011, steel major POSCO dropped plans to start a plant here because of lack of political initiative and other hurdles. The steel plant was to come up in over 6,000 acres of land, which was to be acquired in Halligudi and surrounding villages.
‘Crop loss forced many to leave their hometowns’
If the project had started, over 10,000 villagers would have got direct or indirect employment and business opportunities.
Though industrialisation is desperately needed in these parts, most entrepreneurs eye only Kappatagudda hills because of their rich mineral resources. But the hills are a biodiversity hotspot and many prominent citizens have been carrying out campaigns to protect the zone.
Villagers from Halligudi and other villages have approached the Karnataka Industrial Area Development Board (KIADB) and other departments concerned, requesting them to push industries in these parts.
Rajesh Diggavi, a villager from Halligudi, said, “We have no youth in Halligudi and surrounding villages because of unemployment. We have also requested the government that the industries which come here should give a job to at least one person in each family.