Gadchiroli suffered losses worth Rs 385 crore, as much as the state’s sports budget

Nagpur: Gadchiroli district in eastern Vidarbha has already suffered a flood loss worth more than Rs 385 crore between June and August this year which is exactly the same amount which the state had allocated in the budget for developing sports activities and nurturing talent for the current fiscal year.
The cup of woes for Gadchiroli is yet to be full with fresh cloudbursts in the region leading to flooding in many areas on Sunday. Bhamragarh taluka in south Gadchiroli was already cut off from the rest of the district on late Sunday evening with the Parlakota River topping the connecting bridge.
The district administration has now sought an assistance of around Rs 189 crore on a priority basis to restore the damaged infrastructure and make up for the losses to key amenities as per the latest decision of the government.
Around 760km of roads and 41 bridges of different sizes were also damaged, cumulatively worth around Rs 244 crore as incessant rains lashed the backward district, making up around 63% of the total loss. The cross-drainage system has been damaged at 123 places due to floods. Around 13 places suffered damage to the water supply scheme.
District collector Sanjay Meena said losses due to the deluge was conveyed to the state government through the divisional commissioner’s office. “The loss calculation was a herculean task as we had to collect data from different departments. The calculations were done as per the latest government orders,” he said.
Sironcha, which faced the worst flood situation earlier this year, is once again facing a similar situation now with the Medigatta barrage gates opened. Indravati and Parlakota Rivers are flowing above the danger level since morning.
Around 13 key roads, including the national highway connecting Asar Ali- Somanpalli, in the district are closed due to flooded nullahs and rivers. The rains had earlier brought devastation in the south but now it’s witnessing almost similar lashing in the north too with talukas like Dhanora (115.9mm), Korchi (113.7mm) and Gadchiroli (117.1mm) receiving higher rainfall.
As fresh flooding is hitting life in the district once again, the losses during the floods between June and August were suffered by 54,638 farmers who had faced substantial crop damage. Around 1,565 farmers had suffered land loss.
As per the Gadchiroli administration, the district suffered loss of crop on 41,173 hectares of land followed by loss of another 792 hectares. The administration has now sought around Rs 75 crore from the government for compensating the loss.
During relief operations, the district administration spent Rs 3.67 crore on compensations to 3,075 families which included utensils. Around 7, 620 kutcha huts were partially damaged.
In around 33 relief camps, the district administration spent around 1.32 crore in providing food, medicines and other assistance as almost 11,000 affected persons were evacuated.