'Centre failed to respond to flood situation in K'taka'

The Central and state governments have failed to respond to the flood woes in Karnataka, allaged former Union minister M Veerappa Moily on Saturday.

“This is the worst ever floods witnessed in the recent times,” the former chief minister said while talking to mediapersons after attending the Congress workers meeting at Congress Bhavan.

He accused the governments of being involved in needless deliberations and delaying the announcement of compensation packages to the flood-hit victims.

“Around 22 districts are badly affected by the floods. It appears that the rehabilitation process might be an impossible task,” he added.

Moily explained that many villages were washed away. The survey numbers too have disappeared with the floods and will pose problems during the rehabilitation.

He recollected on submitting a report on the previous floods in Kodagu, Kerala and Odisha as president of a standing committee.

“The report includes permanent solutions to counter flood-related damages,” he said. Moily said Charmadi village in Dakshina Kannada is an example for massive destruction. He said an expert committee should be set up for the purpose instead of appointing IAS officers, who fail to understand the objective behind the destruction.

Merger condemned

Government had declared a loss of Rs 50,000 crore, but the actual loss is estimated to be more than Rs five lakh crore, he claimed.

He added that a delegation led by senior Congress leaders had met the governor and appealed for immediate action. Moily condemned the
mergers of public sector banks and said the central government’s chronic capitalism is a disaster.

As many as 78.9% of bank frauds were reported. The merger of banks will prove to be beneficial to the corporate world in the long run.

“The branches will be reduced and the financial support extended to the rural places and small scale industries will be curtailed. Unemployment will increase and the merger of banks is an insult to undivided Dakshina Kannada which is the cradle of banking sector.

Pramod Madhwaraj no longer a Cong leader

Moily responding to a query said the autocratic behaviour of Modi-led BJP government is a wake up call for Congress, which badly needs to be restructured and emerge as a powerful opposition.

To a query, Moily said that as Pramod Madhwaraj contested elections on JD(S) seat, he was no longer a Congress leader.