Yeddy decides to shift 346 villages instead of the original 216
From Our Special Correspondent
Daijiworld Media Network

Bangalore, Dec 3: As far as good intentions and formulating grandiose schemes go for the rehabilitation of the lakhs of people affected by the recent heavy floods in the north Karnataka region towards the end of September and early October, nobody can beat the B S Yeddyurappa-led BJP regime.

As against the original proposal of shifting 216 villages in the 14 districts of the northern parts of the state, which were ravaged by the floods, the chief minister, who held a high-level meeting of senior officials to review the status of rehabilitation work in flood affected districts in Vidhana Soudha on Thursday, said the government has now decided to shift the people of 346 of flood-affected villages as part of the permanent rehabilitation programme.

Yeddyurappa said the officials had identified lands for shifting 224 villages. While the layout formation work had commenced in 170 villages, house construction work had begun in three villages. Lands would be identified for shifting another 122 villages soon, he said.

Pointing out the difficulties faced by the officials in the land acquisition process, he said farmers had been demanding higher prices for their lands. The Government, however, had decided to pay compensation ranging from Rs 1 to 3 lakh an acre to all those who would be losing lands for rehabilitation.

There was also pressure on the Deputy Commissioners to form layouts on caste-lines. Some rich people were demanding bigger housing sites in the new layouts, he said making it clear that the government will adhere to prescribed norms.

However, considering the pressure for allotment of bigger sites by many of the affluent sections who had lost their houses in the floods, the chief minister said the government had decided to sanction one site free of cost as per the norms for such grants to all the affected people and those insisting on bigger sites would be given the option of availing of another site on payment of the cost.

A total of 3 lakh houses would be constructed in the first phase. One lakh houses on public private partnership and two lakh houses under the Indira Awas Yojana of the Centre.

Foundation stones had been laid for construction of houses in 40 villages and bhoomi pooja for construction of houses in rest of the villages would be done by December end, the chief minister said.

The chief minister indicated that government had already finalised the private agencies and builders for taking up construction of houses in nearly 70 per cent of the affected villages

The loss due to heavy rains and floods in 14 districts has been placed at Rs 18,500 crore. The government had released Rs 1,750 crore, including Rs 500 crore released by the Centre. The donors contributed Rs 1,650 crore.

Of the total of Rs 1,750 crore released by the government so far, Yeddyurappa said as much as Rs 1,213 crore had already been spent and another Rs 285 crore was available with the deputy commissioners of the districts.

"This is the first instance in the country’s history since independence regarding disbursement of Rs 1,000 crore to affected people within a such a short period,’’ he claimed praising the officials for their tireless work.

The government had sought Central assistance of at least Rs 6665.21 crore for taking up rehabilitation works, the chief minister said.

Declaring that the government was confident of rehabilitating people of all 346 villages in the next six months, Yeddyurappa said priority would be given for providing basic amenities such as roads, electricity, drinking water, schools and drainages in the newly formed layouts.

Revenue minister G Karunakara Reddy, who participated in the meeting, said all officials worked day and night as a team in north Karnataka districts for shifting villagers to safer places.

A memorandum would be submitted to the Centre again seeking early release of more funds to take up rehabilitation work, he said.

Earlier, S M Jamdhar, who has been appointed as the nodal officer for rehabilitation, said Raichur, Belgaum and Bagalkote districts were severely affected by floods and rehabilitation works had to be expedited in these districts.

The number of villages to be shifted kept on changing daily and the pace of rehabilitation work had been slow on account of several reasons, including land acquisition, he said.

Rural development and panchayat raj minister Jagadish Shettar, water resources minister Basavarj Bommai, large and medium industries minister Murugesh R Nirani, law and urban development minister Suresh Kumar, agriculture minister S A Ravindranath and Chief Secretary S V Ranganath, Deputy Commissioners and Chief Executive Officers of zilla panachayat attended the meeting.