BENGALURU: The State Government plans to seek Rs 4,800 crore from the Central government as relief for the damage caused by the floods in Karnataka two weeks ago, Revenue Minister R Ashok said on Thursday. Talking to reporters after attending the State Disaster Management Authority meeting,
Ashok said the government would submit a memorandum to the Central assessment team which will visit the State next week. Ashok said he had visited 10 flood-hit affected districts so far. “We also did an aerial survey of these districts along with Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa.
We had written a letter to the Central government to send a team to assess the damage. A team of six will arrive on September 7,” he said. The team will meeting with the chief minister the day of arrival in the state, and then visit the affected areas including Kodagu, Belagavi, Vijayapura and Bagalkot. “Earlier, we had sought Rs 4,000 crore but now we have increased it to Rs 4,800 crore.
This is not final amount,” he said. He also said that the Union government is releasing funds in phases and that Rs 395 crore has already been released. “Apart from this, they have sent four helicopters and nine NDRF teams. We are preparing the loss estimate and listing the damages to bring out a booklet which will be submitted to the Centre,” he said. Heavy rains and increased release of water from dams caused flooding in many districts across the State.
Kodagu and Belagavi districts were among the worst hit. Incessant rainfall across the Western Ghat region around the Karnataka-Maharashtra border and overflowing rivers had wreaked havoc in several parts of the Mumbai-Karnataka region in the Krishna river basin and led to inundation of several villages, bridges, roads and farm land. In Kodagu, heavy rains triggered massive landslides.