Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Wednesday said the State government has prepared a memorandum on rain damage estimate meticulously and transparently and the Centre must be recommended to release “a fair compensation” to Karnataka as per the Central guidelines.
With extensive rain damage in many districts, Mr Bommai said the Central team has been asked to consider the State as a special case.
He held a meeting with the Central team, led by Ashish Kumar, Joint Secretary, Union Home Ministry, which arrived here on Wednesday to study the flood situation in Karnataka, and also the extensive damage caused due to floods during the ongoing monsoon.
The team members were given details of the damages caused due to floods in July and August, and relief measures taken up by the State government.
The team was scheduled to visit Chitradurga, Hassan, Chikmagalur, Haveri, Dharwad, Gadag, Bidar and Kalaburagi districts, but Mr. Bommai suggested they also visit Kodagu, Dakshina Kannada, and Uttara Kannada districts that witnessed massive landslips, sea erosion and other damages.
The team was asked to take stock of flood situations in Bengaluru city, Mandya and Ramanagaram districts.
Mr. Bommai informed the team that this time, a large number of fishing boats, shops, and other business establishments had been damaged.
In Ramanagaram, silk reeling units and twisting units too have suffered damage. “This kind of damage has happened for the first time,” he said.
It has impacted the lives of many people. The team must try to extend the maximum help on humanitarian grounds, he said.
Sea erosion
The Chief Minister said Karnataka has a coastal area of 330 km and works worth ₹350 crore have been taken up to prevent sea erosion in several sensitive places. But, erosion has happened in the new spots. Central government assistance is required for the protection of the complete coastal region, he said.
North Karnataka too faced unprecedented floods in districts such as Kalaburagi, Gadag, Bidar, and Koppal. In fact, the State has been receiving intermittent rains since November last year and there is a need to undertake a study of the rain pattern in the State, he said.
Almost all the tanks are full and overflowing. Many tanks have breached and caused floods. The situation was quite contrast to the floods caused by overflowing rivers, Mr. Bommai said.
₹1,600 cr. for infra repairs
Mr. Bommai said since November last, ₹500 crore was released twice and ₹600 crore was released two days ago towards restoring infrastructure damages.
The State was giving an additional input subsidy for crop loss and ₹2,452 crore has been disbursed among 18.58 lakh farmers.
Out of this, ₹1,160 crore has been borne by the State exchequer.
