Former prime minister H D Deve Gowda has asked the Modi administration to release Rs 5,000 crore as interim relief to help Karnataka deal with the “unprecedented” flood situation.
More than 5.81 lakh persons in 2,694 flood-hit villages have been evacuated so far. The death toll due to flooding stands at 42 and another 12 persons are missing.
“I have not seen such unprecedented destruction to both human lives and properties in my six decades of political career,” Gowda stated in a three-page letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
“I request you to notify this natural disaster as National Calamity. Further, I request you to release Rs 5,000 crore as interim relief...” Gowda has written.
A third of Karnataka’s population, about 2 crore people, have been hit due to unprecedented downpour and floods in the villages in the north, coastal and Malnad regions of the state, Gowda pointed out. “All the 10 major rivers in the state are overflowing beyond the danger mark and the discharge from 15 major dams have caused unimaginable and unquantifiable damage to both public and private properties and which is beyond the coping capacity of the affected community.”
Gowda also said that his son, HD Kumaraswamy, had sought financial assistance of Rs 2,434 crore under the National/State Disaster Response Fund during his tenure as chief minister. The JD(S) national president said the situation “was beyond the coping capacity of the state government” and that it is “extremely difficult” for the authorities to provide rescue, relief and rehabilitation measures through normal allocation under the NDRF/SDRF.