Daijiworld Media Network - Bengaluru (SP)

Bengaluru, Oct 6: Karnataka chief minister (CM) H D Kumaraswamy, met union home minister, Rajnath Singh, and urged the union government to come to the rescue of Karnataka government to take up works to undo the damage inflicted on the state by heavy rainfall and floods. "A total of 2,910 km road has been damaged, and the state has suffered loss of Rs 2,078.88 crore," he explained.

Kumarswamy was accompanied by his father, former Prime Minister, and national president of JD(S), H D Deve Gowda during this meeting. Deve Gowda ably supported the demand made by the CM by providing inputs. The CM told Singh that Udupi, Dakshina Kannada, Uttara Kannada, Belagavi, Shivamogga, Chikkamagaluru and Hassan were among the districts which suffered huge losses, and sought central government's helping hand to tide over the situation.

He said that in addition to roads, 419 bridges and 72 public buildings were damaged and 512.45 km of national highway had been damaged. For their repair, a sum of Rs 781 crore would be required. The state also needs to spend Rs 1,329.88 crore for repairing of state highways, district main roads, as well as reconstruction of bridges and public buildings, he pointed out. Saying that the state government is not in a position to contribute much, he urged the central government to immediately release Rs 250 crore for repairing national highways.

Speaking to media persons later, Kumaraswamy said that the state is facing a situation in which several districts are reeling under floods while there is drought in many other districts. He said that the home minister positively responded to the request to help the state out to mitigate hardships faced by coffee growers, agriculturists, road damage etc. "We had sought central aid for the same purpose in the past too. We had sought meeting with the Prime Minister, but as he is currently very busy, we were told to meet the home minister," he stated.