K'taka floods: BSY says only new layouts to be named after donors contributing Rs 10 cr plus

Bengaluru: Faced with criticism in some quarters over his government’s offer to rename flood-hit villages after donors who contribute more than Rs ten crore for relief works, Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa on Friday said only new layouts would be rechristened.

“Clarification: Chief Minister had announced that donors contributing more than Rs 10 crore will have the layouts named after them, not the villages,” he tweeted.

The Chief Minister’s announcement on Wednesday at a meeting with industrialists and corporates in the wake of last fortnight’s rain fury that left 62 people dead, that villages would be renamed after companies if they give more than Rs ten crore had surprised some people.

The JD(S), headed by former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda, had termed the proposed move to rename villages as a “Tughlaq” decision.

“… Please don’t make people who have lost everything in the floods to lose the name of their village,” the party had said.

“Do not put Karnataka up for sale”.

Yediyurappa clarified on Friday that donors contributing more than Rs 10 crore for development of flood-hit villages will have the layouts, which would come up there, named after them, not villages.