Maharashtra govt announces Rs 11,500-crore package for aid to flood victims, repair works

The Maharashtra government on Tuesday announced Rs 11,500-crore financial package for rain and flood-affected people besides for repair works and reconstruction of roads and other critical infrastructure damaged in the deluge last month.

A part of the package will be used for undertaking long-term flood mitigation measures in the state, where more than 200 people lost their lives in recent rain-related incidents.

The state disaster management department made a presentation before Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray and Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar on the impact of recent floods and heavy rains after which the Maharashtra cabinet sanctioned the financial assistance, an official statement said.

Out of the total financial package announced by the government, Rs 1,500 crore will be used for providing immediate assistance to flood victims, while Rs 3,000 crore will go towards reconstruction and repair of damaged infrastructure, it said.

A sum of Rs 7,000 crore has been earmarked for undertaking long-term measures to minimise impact of future floods, said the statement. The financial assistance would include Rs 5,000 to every family affected by floods.

The state government has relaxed the previous condition of houses being under water for 48 hours to qualify for compensation, it said. Similarly, totally damaged houses will get financial assistance Rs 1,50,000 each, while houses with minimum damage of 50 per cent will get Rs 50,000, the statement said.

Partially damaged houses will get Rs 25,000 per unit, the statement said. Farmers who lost their cattle will get financial assistance of up to Rs 40,000, while fisherman will get up to Rs 25,000 per damaged boat, it said.

Thackeray has asked officials to set up an expert committee and seek help from the National Water Development Agency to study flood lines of the rivers that caused havoc in late July after intense rainfall, the statement said.

There should be a three-year plan for constructing flood resistant walls, cleaning and dredging river beds, the government said in the statement. A real time data acquisition system should be deployed and made functional in the next three months, it said.

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Districts such as Raigad, Ratnagiri, Satara, Sangli and Kolhapur were badly affected due to floods and extremely heavy rainfall that pounded these districts from July 21 to 23.

More than 200 people lost their lives in rain-related incidents like landslides and over two lakh people were forced to leave their homes.

Raigad in the coastal Konkan region was the worst-hit district, accounting for nearly 100 deaths.

Reacting to the announcement, Leader of Opposition in the Legislative Assembly Devendra Fadnavis said the immediate help offered by the state government amounted to just Rs 1,500 crore.

“The actual help is merely Rs 1,500 crore, while remaining figures are for long-term measures.

It also does not include the kind of assistance we had provided in 2019 such as making available sand for construction, help for cleaning up, compensation for damaged crops, among other things," the former chief minister said.

“Prima facie, the government does not seem to have provided any help to farmers," the BJP leader claimed.