BENGALURU: An inter-ministerial Central team will visit the flood-hit areas in Karnataka starting Monday. A team of senior bureaucrats from six departments – Home, Finance, Agriculture, Jal Shakti, Roads and Highways and PWD – will survey the state to find out the total damage and loss due to floods and heavy rain in July and August.
The six-member team of bureaucrats from Delhi, headed by Joint Secretary K V Prathap, will visit Belagavi, Dharwad, Chikkamagaluru, Kodagu, Bagalkot and Gadag and survey the damage first-hand. They will first meet Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa, Revenue Minister R Ashoka, Chief Secretary Vijay Bhaskar and other officials, and thereafter head to the affected areas. Speaking to TNIE, Minister Ashoka said, “Karnataka has assessed the total loss due to the floods to be about Rs 8,060 crore. This team will survey the loss and damage in two visits.
They will survey the areas and assess the damage during this visit, and are expected to visit again after about a month.’’ On Tuesday, they will split up into three teams. The first team headed by Prathap and Karnataka Disaster Management Commissioner Manoj Rajan will visit Kodagu and Chikkamagaluru by helicopter. The second team will take a flight to Belagavi and visit the affected areas of Belagavi and Dharwad.
The third team will fly to Hubballi and visit the affected areas of Gadag and Bagalkot. The team has come in response to Karnataka seeking disaster management funds from the Centre. Besides Prathap, who is joint secretary, Union Ministry of Home Affairs, the team comprises Bhartendu Kumar Singh, Director, Ministry of Finance, Dr Manoharan, Director of Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Cooperation, Guru Prasad, Superintending Engineer, Ministry of Jal Shakti, Sadanand Babu, Superintending Engineer, Ministry of Road Transport and Highway and V P Rajvedi, Under Secretary, Ministry for Rural Development.
State Disaster Management Commissioner Manoj Rajan told TNIE, “The Central team will hold meetings on Monday and Tuesday. We will go to the affected areas and hold a debriefing on Wednesday afternoon.” The teams from Karnataka, who have already visited Kodagu, Chikkmagaluru, Belagavi, Dharwad, Gadag and Bagalkot and assessed the damage, are expected to share their findings with the visiting team. The Central team’s visit to Karnataka is part of their visit to other flood-hit states.