Central team will visit Karnataka to take stock of rain damage

BENGALURU: The Centre has formed a five-member team to assess the damage caused by floods, landslides and the recent heavy rain in 13 districts of Karnataka.
Officials said the inter-ministerial team headed by Union home ministry joint secretary KV Prathap will visit the state in a week.
The government is busy putting together a memorandum to be submitted to the central team and may ask for Rs 5,000 crore.
Manoj Rajan, commissioner of Karnataka Disaster Management Authority, who attended the state executive committee meeting on Monday, said the memorandum will be ready by Tuesday. “It is being prepared based on reports sent by deputy commissioners of the rain-ravaged districts. Data compilation is in final stages and we are waiting for the central team to arrive,” said Manoj Rajan.
This time, the government is preparing the memorandum carefully since last year, the Centre had returned it citing errors in assessing flood damage (the memorandum had said Rs 38,000 crore). The state government later revised the figure to Rs 34,000 crore, but managed to get only Rs 1,800 crore. “The magnitude of damage is less compared to last year’s floods, but we cannot disclose the estimated amount we are seeking from the Centre,” said Ajum Parvez, revenue secretary (disaster management).
Karnataka had sought Rs 4,000 crore when Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a video conference with government representatives on August 11 to take stock of the flood situation.