From Our Special Correspondent
Daijiworld Media Network
Bengaluru, Oct 26: Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar along with the Cabinet ministers held a video review meeting with all district Deputy Commissioners and Chief Executive Officers of Zilla Panchayats on Saturday regarding the recent havoc caused in different districts due to heavy rains as also damages to crops and properties.
Siddaramaiah said a joint survey on the extent of crop damages was presently being conducted and is expected to be completed in the next three to four days, All the district deputy commissioners were directed to complete and submit the
joint survey report within a week besides providing details damages to houses and loss of lives. In case of loss of lives, the prescribed compensation must be released within 48 hours, he said.
The chief minister made it clear that the government would make necessary allocations for carrying out relief works. A total amount of Rs 666.96 crore was available for undertaking relief works, the chief inmister said pointing out that the
Deputy Commissioners already have Rs 551.25 crore while the Tahsildars have Rs 115.71 crore.
he first priority is to undertake relief operations, Siddaramaiah said asking the Deputy Commissioners to personally visit the flood affected areas and carry out assessment works including sanctioning compensation as per the prescribed norms.
All the major reservoirs and dams in the State have a total water storage of 871.25 tmc as against the total capacity of 895.62 tmc, which is far better than the situation last year when the storage was barely 505.81 tmc. Karnataka is also comfortably placed in hydel power generation due to the excellent water availability in the dams and there would not be any problems for supplying power to the irrigation pumpsets of farmers.
As many as 25 persons had lost their lives while 85 big and small animals had died during the rains. A total 84 houses were completely damaged and another 2,077 houses were partially damaged. Compensation amounts is being distributed
as per norms, Siddaramaiah said. The preliminary estimates of the total extent of crop damages throughout the State was in 1,05,937 hectares.
He directed all the district officials to ensure that timely supply of quality seeds and fertilisers to enable farmers to carry out agricultural operations.
The chief minister also reviewed the position of rain havoc in the city, which has witnessed the highest rainfall in October alone at 275 mm. This is the third highest.
Agriculture Minister N Cheluvarayaswamy, Revenue Minister Krishna Byregowda, Urban Development Minister Byrathi Suresh, Rural Development Minister Priyank Kharge, Labour Minister Santhosh Lad and other senior officials including Chief Secretary L K Atiq participated in the review meeting.