Buoyed by the public response to his padayatra through the commercial hub of Bangalore to raise donations for relief and rehabilitation of the flood-ravaged victims of north Karnataka on Wednesday, Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa said similar fund-raising exercises would be conducted by Ministers, MPs and MLAs throughout the State for the next two days.
“We have managed to raise Rs. 300 crore during today’s padayatra in Bangalore. On October 5, we raised about Rs. 200 crore in north Karnataka. Together, we have collected about Rs. 500 crore in 48 hours,” Mr. Yeddyurappa told presspersons after the padayatra.
He appealed to NGOs, religious maths, industrialists and the general public to contribute generously to the Calamity Relief Fund set up by the State Government to take up relief and rehabilitation of the millions of people in north Karnataka, whose lives have been devastated in the unprecedented rain and floods.
Mr. Yeddyurappa also referred to the Rs. 10,000-crore financial aid sought from the Union Government’s Calamity Relief Fund and hoped that the response from the public for the padayatra should send a message to the Centre.
Saying that an estimated three lakh dwellings had been damaged in the rain and floods, Mr. Yeddyurappa said the Government planned to build permanent houses by spending Rs. 1 lakh on each of them in the next one year. “We require Rs. 3,000 crore for building these houses. In addition, we require funds for laying roads, drinking water, electricity and other basic amenities”, he said.
The Chief Minister said the Government would also shift houses that were repeatedly affected from floods. “There are certain houses that are repeatedly flooded. We will shift families to safe locations and construct houses for them,” he added.