Diveagar, a tourist spot in Shrivardhan tehsil of Raigad district, known for its scenic beach and offbeat home stays offering authentic Konkani food, is devastated and still without electricity a week after cyclone Nisarga struck the western coast.
Uday Bapat, sarpanch of Diveagar gram panchayat, said the cyclone hit hard and they suffered the most. “At first, it was the lockdown due to COVID-19 that stopped the tourists’ flow, and now the cyclone. As the State is on its track of reopening, the cyclone delayed that process for us by at least a month or two,” he said.
Trees uprooted
The village has around 214 small and medium size hotels. “Half of them have suffered losses like damage to the tin roofs, or broken windows. The coconut and betel nut trees in every backyard have been uprooted. The government has to provide us with a loan or any other assistance to recover from the losses,” Mr. Bapat said.
The falling of coconut, betel nut, and cashew trees poses a different type of problem than any farmland would suffer under such circumstances. “It takes more than eight to 10 years for these trees to grow. Then they start giving us produce and bring profits. These trees have suffered major damage. The cyclone just destroyed all physical and financial effort put in by us and we won’t be able to earn money through these trees for several years to come,” said Ali Kauchli of Pangrul village in Shrivardhan tehsil, who lost many such trees.
Raigad’s Guardian Minister Aditi Tatkare pointed out these issues to Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar during his visit to review the situation.
Over one lakh trees were uprooted in the cyclone, with most of them being from Shrivardhan and Mangaon tehsils of the district. As per the data from the district collector’s office, 89,185 houses were damaged, while 18,800 hectares of farm land were affected.
Areas such as Mangaon, Mhasla, Shrivardhan and surrounding villages have partial to no electricity. Over 5,507 high tension poles and 11,089 low tension poles fell in the cyclone impact.
Water supply issues
As a result of the power supply disruptions, these areas are now experiencing problems in water supply as well. Ms. Tatkare said the water lines are not damaged. “We are restarting power stations on a war footing. Water supply will resume soon,” she said.
Atul Lokhande of Mangaon owned a motorcycle showroom along the Mumbai-Goa national highway. The shop has been roofless for a week now and the damage, in his estimation, could be around ₹2 to ₹3 lakh. “Government officials came and asked me my about bank account number. But they didn’t note down the IFSC code. I don’t think I will get any compensation for the losses. The State is yet to start power connection here,” he said.
CM hikes compensation
The State government has declared ₹100 crore as an immediate relief for Raigad district. Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray had said that this amount was not final and would be increased.
The Chief Minister on Wednesday announced that the State had decided to keep aside the prescribed rates of the National Disaster Response Force and the State Disaster Response Force, given under such circumstances, and instead increased the compensation by around one-and-a-half to three times.
Compensation for fully damaged pucca and kachha houses has been increased to ₹1.5 lakh from ₹95,100, while for partial damage, the amount has gone up from ₹6,000 to ₹15,000. The same amount will be applied for damaged hut as well.
Similarly, compensation towards clothes and utensils per family that has lost its house, has now been doubled from ₹2,500 to ₹5,000.
For farmland up to two hectares, the earlier relief of ₹18,000 per hectare for multi-year crop has gone up to ₹50,000 per hectare. Small shop owners will now get 75% of the total damage or maximum ₹10,000.
Raigad MP Sunil Tatkare, however, said the losses are much higher and could be around ₹5,000 crore.