Ganeshwadi is the last village of Shirol taluka in Kolhapur district on the border between Maharashtra and Karnataka. Many farmers from Ganeshwadi and other villages in Shirol straddle between the two states with a home in Maharashtra and agricultural land in Karnataka.

When monsoons hit the western Indian state, floods regularly follow in Shirol. The taluka has 55 villages, among which 43 are 90% flood-affected, while seven villages face the maximum impact, becoming islands during this time of the year.

There has been a flood in Shirol every year, notably in 1914, 1989 and 2005. In 2019, the floods were at a much larger scale than before. The impact is further aggravated by state compensation policies that differ across the border.

According to the farmers, Karnataka offers better compensation for flood victims, but they cannot benefit from it as they reside in Maharashtra.

Shirol in Kolhapur district lies on the border between Maharashtra and Karnataka. Credit: Datawrapper
“I lost my entire sugarcane crop from two acres of farmland to the [August 2019] floods. The entire field was under floodwater for more than a week which resulted in decaying and loss of crop. Now I am due with a loan of Rs 1,80,000. How will I repay this loan and get back to my normal life? The flood took everything away from me,” says Appasaheb Shripal Khot, 35. He has farmland in Athani taluka in Karnataka’s Belgaum district, while his house is in Ganeshwadi village in western Maharashtra’s Kolhapur district.
Appaso Shripal Khot shows documents of his residence proof and ration card from Maharashtra and 7/12, a land ownership document, from Karnataka.
Ravindra Appaso Belanki, 38, a Ganeshwadi resident who lost his cash crops worth approximately Rs 3 lakh, shows his residential address proof from Maharashtra and the 7/12 of his family farm in Karnataka. “I lost my entire crop of organic turmeric, banana and sugarcane to floods,” he said. “It’s been four months since the floods and we have not yet been surveyed. We urge the government to help us survive the loss of flood,” he said.
Ajit Jinnappa Biranje, a flood victim from Ganeshwadi who lost his partial home in the floods, is living in his temporary farm home in Athani taluka, Karnataka. He also lost several documents, including agricultural documents and is left only with his ration card for Maharashtra.
Shirol taluka in Kolhapur district is surrounded by the Krishna river on three sides. The August 2019 floods, where the river water levels rose to a record 62.5 feet, damaged trees in Ganeshwadi. Previously, the water level had reached a height of 50 feet in 1989 and 56 feet in 2005.

The Krishna river unites with the Panchganga river close to the border at Narsinhwadi and then further flows to Karnataka where it meets the 524-metre Almatti dam, which is the first dam as the river enters Karnataka, located at Nidgundi in Bijapur district. This dam is also known as the Upper Krishna River Project with backwaters in north Karnataka’s Bagalkot district. The swelling of these backwaters is a major reason for the 2019 floods. Major parts of those districts were paralysed as the national highway, railway, internal roads were under floodwater for more than eight days in August 2019. Damage to homes, agriculture as well as industrial damage was observed.

The flood-hit villages have been demanding better compensation from the Maharashtra government, in lieu of which they want their villages to be incorporated within Karnataka. They say the Karnataka government offers better compensation to each affected family residing in the state compared to Maharashtra, specifically in terms of compensation for collapse and damages to homes. The agricultural assistance per hectare, loan waiver, and relief in electricity bill and taxes are also better in Karnataka, when compared to Maharashtra’s compensation, claim the farmers.

Comparison of compensation between two states. Source: Via Mongabay

In September last year, the villagers of the seven most-affected villages from Shirol taluka carried out a protest march demanding either full compensation or being connected to Karnataka. While surveys in both states have been carried out, the complete compensation was yet to be doled out, as of December 2019.

Devasted by floods and abandoned by her sons, Jainab Patel (right) lives alone in a makeshift house in Gourwad village, Maharashtra. Her house was damaged in the floods. Her neighbours take care of her now.
The village library of Bubunal lost approximately 20,000 books.
A villager from Kawathe guland found her lost documents after eight days, after her home was washed away. The victims had taken shelter in schools, community halls, temples and highlands for more than 10 days.
Farmers from Alas village of Shirol taluka burn their banana plantations damaged by the floods.

While the agricultural damage is being surveyed by the District Agricultural Department, only those farmers who have agricultural land in Maharashtra will benefit, said Shirol tehsildar, Aparna More. The district collector Daulat Desai, said, “One who has a farm in Maharashtra will be eligible [for compensation], the government cannot bear losses of farm lands from other states.”

Major reasons attributed to these floods have been climate change-affected monsoon patterns, followed by unusual rainfall, missing coordination of overflow of two dams Koyana and Almatti, increased height of Almatti, encroachments in redline zone and tampering of technically-established flood lines in urban areas.

A technical study to look into the causes of the 2019 floods is being carried out by a committee appointed by state government of Maharashtra in August last year, which is headed by of irrigation department, Central Water Commission, the Indian Meteorological, researchers of IIT Mumbai, and other experts.

This article first appeared on Mongabay.