Special Correspondent
‘I will request Prime Minister and Union Home Minister to visit flood-hit areas in the State’
SHIMOGA: Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy said on Saturday that he would personally request Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil to visit flood-hit areas in the State so that they would know the gravity of the situation.
Addressing presspersons after holding a review meeting with officials here, he said that he would lead an all-party delegation to the Prime Minister shortly and apprise him of the situation arising out of heavy rain and floods in 13 districts and seek adequate Central assistance.
He, however, said that the Centre should depute study teams immediately to assess the loss without waiting for the formal request by the State Government.
Mr. Kumaraswamy said that preliminary reports from flood-affected districts estimated the loss at Rs. 4,000 crore – infrastructure loss had been put at Rs. 1,000 crore and crop loss at Rs. 3,000 crore.
He said the State Government would urge the Centre to bear the loss of Rs. 4,000 crore and immediately release Rs. 500 crore as the first part of its assistance.
On whether he was confident of getting assistance from the Centre to the extent desired, he said though it was not possible, the Centre should not mete out “step motherly” treatment to the State. He would plead Karnataka’s case before the Centre aggressively, he added.
He said rules pertaining to payment of compensation for crop loss would be relaxed to ensure adequate relief to farmers.
The Government would assess the situation in a scientific manner. The compensation given should solve the problems permanently. The Chief Minister said that heavy rain in the past 10 days had caused extensive damage to property and crops. Some areas were inundated when water was released from reservoirs.
Stating that the Government faced no financial crunch now to tackle the situation, he said that it had released Rs. 50 crore to the affected districts to take up immediate relief works and Rs. 136 crore would be released soon.
Referring to the loss and damage caused to property on account of floods in Shimoga district, Mr. Kumaraswamy said that the district administration had put the loss at Rs. 110 crore.
Crops in 59,000 hectares of land had been damaged. He commended Deputy Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa and Minister for Water Resources K.S. Eshwarappa for visiting the affected-areas to assess the loss and damage.
The district administration had Rs. 3 crore to take up immediate relief works.
The Chief Minister said 30 gruel centres had been opened in the district for the affected people.
A compensation of Rs. 1 lakh had been given to the kin of those killed in the rain-related incidents.
He said that it was proposed to pay compensation to farmers cultivating encroached land if they suffered crop loss.
Speculation
Mr. Kumaraswamy put to rest the speculation over transfer of power to the BJP by stating that the swearing in ceremony of Deputy Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa as new Chief Minister would take place as scheduled on October 3.
Mr. Yediyurappa, Mr. Eshwarappa and MLAs Araga Jnanendra, Hartalu Halappa, G. Basavannappa and Beluru Gopalakrishna were present.
Ashraya houses
Davangere staff correspondent reports:
The Chief Minister announced that the State Government had decided to allot houses under the Ashraya scheme to those who had lost their houses in heavy rain and floods in the State.
He was speaking in Harihar after conducting an aerial survey of the affected areas in Davangere on Saturday.
He said the Government had decided to enhance the crop loss compensation from Rs. 800 per acre to Rs. 2,000. The loss in Haveri district had been put at Rs. 22 crore and Rs. 36 crore in Davangere district.