Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Monday said that officials have been directed to transfer the crop loss compensation amount to the affected farmers' accounts immediately. The Chief Minister said this while interacting with the mediapersons during his visit to the rain-hit areas of the state's Kolar district. Incessant rains have caused huge losses to the standing crops in the state.
Starting from Narasapura, the Chief Minister toured the Kolar district extensively. He said: "I have seen extensive damage to Ragi, vegetables, horticulture and floriculture crops. Flood water from Mudavadi irrigation tank has cut-off road connectivity in the area. About 790 houses have been completely or extensively damaged.
"Agri Crops in 48,333 hectares and horticulture crops in 6966 hectares have been affected, 189km length of roads and 34 bridges have been damaged according to preliminary reports," Bommai said.
The Chief Minister said that a sum of Rs 5 lakh would be paid as compensation against the completely damaged houses, and Rs 3 lakh for partially damaged houses, in three instalments. The DCs had been instructed to disburse first instalment of Rs1 lakh immediately, Bommai said.
The state government has released Rs 500 crore for the repair of damaged roads and bridges. Schools and Anganwadis too had suffered damages and the repair work there would be taken up through the NDRF fund, he said.
"Rs 500 crore will be released for the repair of damaged roads and bridges, I have instructed immediate release of Rs 1 lakh (first instalment) to those whose houses have been fully damaged, and also to release money for those whose houses have been partially damaged," Bommai said.
In response to a question, he said the Election Commission has permitted Ministers of the concerned departments and the Chief Minister to travel across the state to take stock of the damage caused by rains and to oversee the relief measures. A total of 24 people have lost their lives till Sunday evening, due to rains and floods caused by it across the state since the beginning of this month, Karnataka Disaster Management Authority officials said.
As per the preliminary loss and damages estimated by the authority since November 1, as many as 658 houses have been completely damaged, while 8,495 houses have been partially damaged. While an estimated 191 animals have lost their lives, crops in over 4 lakh hectares have been damaged, out of them 3,79,501 hectares are agriculture crops and 30,114 hectares are horticulture crops. The data shared by the officials also showed that 2,203 km of roads have been damaged. Other infrastructure damage till Sunday evening include 1,225 schools, 39 PHCs, 1,674 electric poles and 278 electric transformers.