North Karnataka floods: BS Yediyurappa wants special package from PM

Bengaluru: Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa on Monday conducted an aerial inspection of flood hit districts of north Karnataka, where several villages were inundated following increased outflow from reservoirs across the Krishna and its tributaries in Maharashtra.

He flew by a special plane from the HAL airport here to Toranagal airstrip in Ballari, from where he proceeded to Bagalkote, Raichur, Vijayapura and Yadgiri to get a first-hand assessment of the situation, official sources said.

The Krishna, Malaprabha, Markandeya rivers and some other rivulets are in spate, submerging thousands of hectares of land in Belagavi, Bagalkote, Raichur, Vijayapura and Yadgir.

A huge quantum of water had been released from the Koyna and four other dams in Maharashtra, which were reportedly full to the brim. As a result, the Almatti dam on the Krishna river in Karnataka and three to four barrages on its upper regions were completely filled and excess water was released, the director of the Karnataka State Natural Disaster Monitoring Centre G S Srinivasa Reddy said.

The increased outflow flooded the lower regions, leading to thousands of hectares being submerged and standing crops in parts of the region completely destroyed, sources said.

Speaking to reporters in Vijayapura, Mr Yediyurappa said the government machinery was working round-the-clock and has carried out rescue and rehabilitation work in all the five flood affected districts. After the aerial survey, the Chief Minister said district administrations have been given full powers to tackle the situation. “There is no dearth of funds to address the situation arising out the flood. The deputy commissioners of all five districts have funds with them,” Mr Yediyurappa added.

The CM said he had instructed legislators of these districts to prepare an action plan for a “permanent solution” to deal with floods in future.

He announced that he would visit Delhi tonight and present a memorandum to PM Narendra Modi, requesting him to release a package for relief and rehabilitation work.   

 – PTI