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Declare K’taka floods a calamity, release Rs 5,000 cr soon: Siddaramaiah to Centre

Modi government is sleeping even after seeing a disaster of this proportion.

Bengaluru: With around 1,024 villages in 80 taluks of 17 districts affected due to floods caused by incessant rains, former chief minister Siddaramaiah on Sunday appealed to the Union government to declare the floods a national calamity and also immediately release at least Rs 5,000 crore for rescue and relief efforts.

Speaking to reporters here, Mr Siddarmaiah charged that the Union government was still 'sleeping' even after seeing the severity of the floods. “Prime Minister Narendra Modi should visit these places, conduct a scientific survey and release Rs 5,000 crore immediately,” he said and tweeted this as well.

Accusing the Centre of step-motherly treatment, he quipped that the Union government has released only Rs 126 crore through NDRF which was not even sufficient for 'first-aid.' "Due to the ongoing floods, more than a lakh crore worth public and private assets have been destroyed. Roads, bridges, railway lines and many other public utilities have been washed away. It may take years to set them right," he said and added that politics should not be brought into this distressful situation. "It will be very difficult for Chief Minister B. S. Yediyurappa to act alone and it is impossible to ensure justice in all departments. I urge him to immediately form the Cabinet and place ministers in charge of each district," he said. Mr Siddarmaiah also wondered how Mr Yediyurappa could call himself the CM when there is no council of ministers. "In this situation, you need a revenue minister and agriculture minister to take stock of the situation. Since there is no government, proper measures are not being taken," he said.

Ridiculing Mr Yediyurappa's statement that the MLAs were like ministers of their respective areas, Mr Siddaramaiah wondered if in a democracy, MLAs can become ministers? “Can he take a decision on the spot? Under what provisions has power been delegated to the MLAs? Who has powers today? It's an irresponsible statement that MLAs are working like ministers,” he remarked angrily.

Floods to recede in 48 hrs, orange alert from today

The flood situation in North Karnataka continues to be grim but the situation could ease in the next 48 hours with Chief Secretary Mr T.M. Vijay Bhaskar during an alert with the Chief Minister on Sunday, saying that the Orange alert across the state on Sunday would be converted into a Yellow alert on Monday.

The rainfall intensity over Upper Krishna Basin in Maharashtra reduced considerably since Saturday Even the forecast for North Interior Karnataka for the next five days predicts scattered light to moderate rains. However, coastal and Malnad regions are likely to receive moderate rains and heavy rainfall in isolated places.

Mr Vijay Bhaskar also said that over 5.81 lakh people have been evacuated and 1168 relief camps are sheltering over 3.27 lakh people. Over 28325 houses have been damaged. In the Malnad region of Kodagu, Chikkamagaluru and Uttara Kannada, heavy landslides have damaged over 136 connecting roads, including national highways, state highways and major district roads.

Meanwhile, major reservoirs are receiving heavy inflow. On Sunday, the inflow into Hemavati was 77500 cusecs, while the outflow was 72500 cusecs. In Tungabhadra, the inflow was 2.1 lakh cusecs, while outflow was 1.8 lakh cusecs. Kabini received 83,000 cusecs inflow, while outflow was 72,000 cusecs. Narayanapur received 6 lakh cusecs inflow while outflow was 6.11 lakh cusecs. Almatti received 6.16 lakh cusecs inflow while outflow was 5.4 lakh cusecs.

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