Will take Himachal Pradesh's help to tackle Madikeri landslides, says H D Kumaraswamy

Bengaluru: Confirming that 12 people had lost their lives in the landslides and floods that have hit Kodagu, Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy revealed on Monday that the state had sought the help of experts of Himachal Pradesh in handling the situation. Speaking to reporters here , he explained the government had turned to Himachal Pradesh as it was prone to frequent landslides and it had had agreed to send its experts to help Karnataka restore normalcy in landslide-hit Kodagu. The government has also sought the help of the army’s Madras Engineering Group in rebuilding roads devastated by the landslides.

Owing to rumours of a possible earthquake in the district, two scientists of the National Geophysical Institute, Hyderabad have been roped in to study the seismic movement in the area. Defending his brother H.D. Revanna, who is seen in a video clip throwing biscuit packets at victims of the Kodagu distaster in a relief camp, Mr Kumaraswamy said none of his family members could behave in an arrogant manner.

“Revanna has mobilised milk and rice for the people in relief camps. When he visited a room, there were thousands of people. As he tried distributing biscuits, he casually tossed some at people who were some distance away. He was not acting arrogantly,” he said.

Asked about him reading a newspaper during the aerial survey of the district, Mr Kumaraswamy shot back, “There is no affected area from Mysuru to Periyapattana. What’s wrong if I use that time to read a newspaper?” Revealing that preliminary estimates put the damage caused to government property at Rs 3,000 crore, the Chief Minister said that the loss suffered by private properties had not yet been assessed.