Crops on 4.69 lakh hectares of land lost: BSY

I-Day address: State caught between extremes of drought and flood, says Yediyurappa

The students of Karnataka Public School perform ‘Bharatambeya Madilina Makkalu’, a dance drama, during the 73rd Independence Day celebrations at the Manekshaw Parade Ground on Thursday. DH PHOTO/ RANJU P

Crops on 4.69 lakh hectares of land have been lost to the floods, and more than 58,620 dwellings are damaged. The worst affected are the farmers, said Chief Minister Yediyurappa.

Delivering Independence Day speech on Thursday, Yediyurappa admitted that the state was caught between the two extremes of drought and flood and that his government was prepared to address both the problems.

The chief minister spoke about the measures taken for the victims of the “nature’s fury unseen for 45 years”.

“We have responded by opening 1,224 relief centres where food, clothing, medicine and other essentials are being dispensed,” he said, adding that 3,96,617 people have been provided shelter in the centres.

The chief minister also said 56.97 lakh people were shifted to safer areas and that 61 people and 859 animals were killed.

The government has announced an immediate relief of Rs 10,000 each to those who lost their homes in the floods, with Rs 5 lakh to follow in compensation, plus another Rs 1 lakh to repair or rebuild homes, he said.

He claimed that Rs 5 lakh in compensation was being disbursed within 48 hours to families that suffered deaths.

Farmers are priority, he said, adding that the day he took over as the chief minister, he had announced that the state government would hand out Rs 4,000 (in two instalments), plus Rs 6,000 that the Centre provides as part of the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi Yojana to eligible members of the farming community.