Ujire : A team of entrepreneurs who had vowed to rebuild the lives of flood victims at Kolambe in Belthangady taluk, have been successful in their efforts in the last two months.

The flash flood on August 9 had taken a toll on the residents of Kolambe in Belthangady taluk. Apart from the damage caused to houses, the farmland were covered in two to four feet of sand and heaps of driftwood.

Entrepreneurs Mohan Kumar of Lakshmi Group and Rajesh Pai of Sandhya Traders along with volunteers started the work on rebuilding the village on August 15.

Members of various organisations and volunteers worked tirelessly on every Sunday and removed the sand and driftwood, and made the affected land once again suitable for farming.

Already, 100 banana plants, 50 Basale (Malabar spinach), 12 lanes of sambar cucumber, 20 lanes of long yard beans, 50 brinjal plants and other vegetables have been planted on the affected farmlands. The work on transplanting paddy seedlings has also been taken up on at least 17 paddy fields in the village.

More than 40 acres of farmland with arecanut, coconut, banana and paddy were damaged in the flash flood. The sand had accumulated all over the farmland and houses too were filled with four to five feet of silt after the flash flood.

Speaking at the valedictory of the work on rebuilding flood-affected Kolambe, MLA Harish Poonja appealed to the entreprenuers to support the development activities in the affected areas till Hosamata. Poonja said Rs 2 crore had been earmarked for providing connectivity to the flood-affected areas in Charmadi village. The work on 4-km long concrete road to provide connectivity from Hosamata to Anaru village will be taken up shortly. Similarly, the work on constructing retaining walls wherever it is necessary will be completed within a month, the MLA added.

Mohan Kumar and Rajesh Pai said, “It was a challenge to rebuild the flood-affected area. Members of various organisations, including Sri Kshetra Dharmasthala Rural Development Project, had rendered their service and helped to rebuild the village within 65 days.”