Drought Relief: State Seeks Rs 770 cr from Centre

Mangalore Today News Network

Bangalore, Oct 31, 2014:  The state government on Thursday sought Rs 770 crore from the Centre to take up drought relief works.

Speaking to reporters after a meeting with members of the central study team which toured the flood-hit areas of the state, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said the government has declared 34 taluks as drought-hit and is carrying out relief work on war footing.

Siddaramaiah said Revenue Minister Srinivasa Prasad, who has gone to Delhi, has submitted a memorandum to the Centre seeking Rs 770 crore for drought relief under the National Disaster Relief Fund. “The Centre is expected to send a team to study the drought-hit taluks in the second week of November,” Siddaramaiah said. Meanwhile, the government has released funds for immediate relief works, he said.

The central team on floods touring the state for the last three days met him on Thursday, he said. “The team seems to be convinced of the grave situation in the state because of floods in several parts of North Karnataka in August this year,” he said. The rains that lashed Bidar, Gulbarga, Yadagir, Raichur, Koppal, Bellary, Gadag, Bagalkot and Dharwad had caused the death of 24 people and 66 cattle. Standing crops in over 88,000 hectares, 3,680 km of roads and about 18,700 houses were damaged.

“The total estimated loss due to floods is around Rs 563 crore,” he said. The state had earlier sought Rs 362 crore as relief from the Centre. The chief minister said the state government has already released Rs 63 crore for relief work.