K'taka flood: Centre must release Rs 5000 cr as relief, says RV Deshpande

Hubballi: A day after Centre approved additional financial assistance of Rs Rs 1,200 crore to the state for the damages caused by the rains and floods senior Congress MLA RV Deshpande urged the Union government to release at least Rs 5,000 crore relief.

Addressing presspersons at Hubballi Airport on Saturday, he said that the magnitude of destruction caused by August floods is enormous and as per the state government’s own admission the total damage caused by floods is more than Rs 38,000 crore.

However, he thanked Centre’s decision of releasing Rs 1200 crore as interim relief.

He further added that the people and BJP leaders are not completely happy with the state government’s efforts to mitigate floods. The government could have served better.

As many as 103 taluks in 22 districts were affected due to floods in August, in which over 80 people were killed. Around seven lakh people were shifted to safe areas and thousands of houses were damaged.

BJP governments at both Centre and the state have been facing criticism from the opposition Congress and JDS regarding the ‘delay’ in the grant of central funds despite Home Minister Amit Shah, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitaraman and inter-ministerial central team visiting the affected region. The opposition parties have accused Modi government of showing ‘apathy’ towards Karnataka, despite state sending 25 BJP MPs.