Monsoon damage in K’taka pegged at Rs 3,600 cr: CM

Bengaluru, Sept 19: The monsoon this year caused damage to the tune of Rs 3,600 crore to the crops, houses and infrastructure in Karnataka, State Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai said on Monday.
He said the State would claim Rs 1,645 crore from the Centre under the National Disaster Relief Fund.
“More than 10.06-lakh hectare of agricultural land and 42,048 houses were damaged in the flood. We had estimated the crop loss in 5.8 lakh hectares, but now we estimate the loss was in 10.06 lakh hectare till Sunday.
“We have estimated that Rs 1,550 crore would be required for the crop loss,” Bommai told the State Assembly.
Bommai was participating in a discussion on the floods this year and the measures taken by the government.
He said till Sunday, compensation to the tune of Rs 377.44 crore was deposited into the bank accounts of 3.26 lakh farmers through direct benefit transfer.
“We are depositing the money as the details are uploaded in the government data.
“We are giving compensation to the farmers within the season, which is a record. We have formulated a system to ensure that there is no dearth of funds,” the Chief Minister said.
He said the State government has estimated to pay Rs 850 crore for the damage of 42,048 houses due to the monsoon.
Already, Rs 3,104.74 crore has been released to compensate for the damage of the houses in three years since 2019, Bommai said. He added: “A sum of Rs 1, 527 crore will be required for the completion of houses, which we will release based on the progress in the construction of houses.”
“The money we immediately require to pay compensation is Rs 1,550 crore for crop loss, Rs 850 crore for damage to houses, and Rs 1,200 crore for damage to infrastructure,” the Chief Minister said. (PTI)