From Our Special Correspondent
Daijiworld Media Network

Bengaluru, Nov 19: The centre on Monday approved over Rs 546 crore as additional assistance to Karnataka mainly towards rehabilitation works due to havoc caused by floods and landslides this year.

A decision in this regard was taken at a meeting of the high-level committee chaired by Home Minister Rajnath Singh and attended by Finance minister Arun Jaitley, Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh besides others, an official statement said.

The committee has approved the additional assistance of Rs. 546.21 crore from the National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF) to Karnataka, it said.

The release of the amount has been approved following a report of an inter-ministerial team that visited areas hit by the floods and landslides in Karnataka including Kodagu district, the country's largest coffee-growing region.

Union Home Secretary Rajiv Gauba and senior officers of the ministries of home, finance and agriculture and NITI Aayog were present at the meeting.

A 10-member inter-ministerial team of the Union government completed its tour of drought-prone areas of the State on Monday.

It held discussions with Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy and other Cabinet ministers. The team expected to submit a report to the Centre soon.

The state government has declared 100 taluks as drought-hit.

Karnataka suffered crop loss to the tune of Rs16,662 crore owing to deficit rainfall during the 2018 monsoon, Rural Development and Panchayat Raj minister Krishna Byre Gowda said,

The state submitted a memorandum seeking Central aid of Rs 2,434 crore under the NDRF.