Pune: Central team finds time after 68 days to visit flood-affected Daund, spends only 15 minutes at spot

Pune: A two-member team from the central government arrived in Daund taluka on Tuesday (December 22) to monitor and review the situation of the farms devastated due to torrential rains in October month. The central team took 68 days to visit the spot and spent just 15 minutes at the Swami Chincholi village site to assess the losses. Local villagers however expressed their displeasure about not being informed by the district administration in advance about the central team’s visit.

A pond constructed with inferior quality material had collapsed due to the torrential rains on October 14. Due to this, several natural streams in villages like Malad, Rawangaon, Nandadevi, Khadki, Swami Chincholi had flooded and caused extensive damage to the crops and erosion of soil. Many animals were left dead due to the floods and roads were also damaged. The central team had flown down to Pune district to visit and review these losses.

Two members – IPS officers Ramesh Kumar Ghanata and R B Kaul – of the team visited the flood-affected villages on December 22. They started off from Pune and reached Swami Chincholi village directly instead of the other affected villages along Pune – Solapur Highway. The team then headed to Solapur for another site review.

The team received a flak as they finished off their review tour in just 15 minutes and did not meet even a single farmer from the affected villages. Sanjay Patil, Tehsildar of Daund told mediapersons that they were informed about the visit of the central team. We had further communicated about this to the tehsil agriculture department, we are not aware about whether the department communicated with the local farmers or not.