Floods devour Rs 16,500 cr property

State officials invited to Delhi on Oct 8

This is only a preliminary assessment by the State Government, and the actual loss may be much more.

In a memorandum submitted to the Union Home Minister P Chidambaram during his visit to Bellary on Monday, Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa has sought Rs 10,000 crore from the Centre as interim relief to restore damage caused to infrastructure in the affected areas.

The State government, as per the memorandum, has suffered a huge loss due to widespread damage caused to roads, bridges, culverts (Rs 5,000 crore), tanks and irrigation canals (Rs 3,500 crore). The crop loss is estimated to be Rs 2,500 crore. The preliminary assessment was done as per the statistics available till October 4 evening, the memorandum stated.

The CM has urged the Centre to declare the disaster as a National Calamity, considering the severity, vastness of the affected area and distress caused to lakhs of people. Besides, he has asked the Centre to immediately send a team to conduct an actual assessment of the damages.

Further, the CM said 1,211 relief camps were opened and nearly 3.55 lakh people were  being provided with food and shelter. So far, 20 lakh food packets have been distributed in the affected districts.

Addressing the media, Home Minister V S Acharya said the floods have wrecked havoc to village infrastructure like drains, roads, school buildings and community utilities. Drinking water supply system is washed out in almost all villages.

Meeting

Chidambaram has invited the State government for a meeting on October 8 in Delhi in this regard. The CM, his senior cabinet colleagues and top officials, including the Chief Secretary will attend the meeting, Acharya said.



Damage break up