Revenue Minister Krishna Byre Gowda during his inspection of flood-hit areas in Kollegal in Chamarajanagar district on Friday.
| Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
A total of ₹ 767 crore have been made available to take up flood relief works in the State, said Revenue Minister Krishna Byre Gowda.
Speaking to reporters after visiting the flood-hit village of Dasanapura in Kollegal taluk on Friday, Mr. Gowda said the heavy rains and floods had caused considerable damage to the crops. Till four to five days ago, crops on 45,000 hectares of land had been damaged. However, the extent of damage had increased during the last week and the Deputy Commissioners have been instructed to take up relief works.
With crop damage likely to go up in another week, the Deputy Commissioners have been authorised to provide compensation for the same.
118 relief centres
A total of 118 flood relief centres have been opened across the State.
He said the authorities were shifting the residents of houses on hilly regions that were vulnerable to landslides as well as the residents of houses that are likely to be flooded during the rains. While a few were voluntarily shifting and the authorities were convincing the others to shift the relief centres with a view to protecting their lives.
A total of 18,000 had been provided shelter and food at the relief centres.
More rain
Referring to the tragedy in Wayanad, where landslides took away the lives of hundreds of people and left many others injured, Mr. Gowda emphasised the need for being very careful as there is a possibility of more rain in the month of August also.
He said the State government had activated its official machinery to provide relief for the flood hit regions and he was personally visiting the affected areas to check how the flood and rain relief activities were going on.
He said the State government was providing advance information about the rains this year. Also, precautionary measures were being taken in villages downstream before releasing water from the reservoirs.
Mr. Gowda claimed that the number of deaths in rain-related incidents was less this year compared to previous years. “We have taken precautionary measures,” he said while pointing out that the rainfall in various parts of the State was 31 per cent more than normal during June and July.
Earlier, A.R. Krishnamurthy and Manjunath, MLAs, along with Deputy Commissioner Shilpa Nag explained the flood situation in Chamarajanagar to Mr. Gowda.
