Kodagu's roads have suffered Rs 450 crore damage, 100 engineers at work: Revanna

Hassan: Denying the claim of BJP leaders that the coalition government in the state was not doing enough for a flood and landslide devastated Kodagu, PWD Minister, H D Revanna on Monday said work was being done on a war- footing to restore the district’s road connectivity and over a 100 engineers were working to rebuild it.

“The road damage in Kodagu is estimated to be Rs 450 crore and in Hassan, Rs 350 crore. In all, the seven districts, which have recorded more than average rainfall this monsoon, have suffered road damage worth about Rs. 2,000 crore. We need Rs 200 crore only to restore the road between Somawarpet in Kodagu and neighbouring Sakleshpur in Hassan,” he told reporters here, adding that in many places the heavy rainfall had washed away roads maintained by the zilla and taluk panchayats.

As for BJP leader, B Sriramulu’s criticism of the functioning of the coalition government, Mr Revanna pointed out that it was his father and Janata Da(S) supremo, H D Deve Gowda, who was instrumental in giving the scheduled tribes tag to his Valmiki Nayaka community.

“Had there been no reservation for Valmiki Nayakas, no one from the community would have been able to become MPs or MLAs,” he said, adding, “Why did BJP MPs representing the state not approach Prime Minister Narendra Modi to get Central funds for relief work in rain-hit districts of the state?”

He, however, appreciated defence minister, Nirmala Sitaraman, for visiting Kodagu and announcing Rs 7 crore from her grants for the district.