80 Taluks in Karna declared flood-affected; toll up to 26

The Karnataka government Saturday declared 80 Taluks in 17 districts flood-affected even as the death toll went up to 26 and thousands of people were rendered homeless.

The government passed the order declaring the 80 taluks flood-hit taking into account the damage to the crop, human lives, livestock and basic infrastructure.

The flood-hit Taluks are in Belagavi, Bagalkote, Raichur, Kalaburagi, Yadgir, Vijayapura, Gadag, Haveri, Dharwad, Shivamogga, Chikkamagaluru, Kodagu, Dakshina Kannada, Udupi, Uttara Kannada and Mysuru districts.

Officials said at least 26 people have died due to flood and rain-related incidents in the past past one week.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah will be visiting the worst affected Belagavi district on Sunday, state government officials said.

He would also undertake an ariel survey of the other flood-hit areas in the state, they added.

Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa said never ever a disaster of this magnitude had struck the state in the past 45 years.

He appealed to the people to donate generously to rebuild the flood-hit areas.

"Our preliminary assessment suggests that the loss is to the tune of Rs 6,000 crore. We have sought Rs 3,000 crore from the Centre," Yediyurappa told reporters.

As many as 2.35 lakh people have been moved to safety, the chief minister said adding that 222 head of livestock is dead and 44,013 head of cattle have been evacuated and provided shelter.

The government has assessed that 3,22,448 hectares of agricultural land have been damaged due to floods and landslides.

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Saturday conducted an aerial survey of the worst-affected Belagavi and Bagalkote districts.

She told reporters that the Centre would instruct insurance companies to pay the compensation to the farmers.

"The insurance companies will be instructed to conduct their surveys and formalities later. They will be asked to conduct meetings with officers and elected representatives of the districts concerned and finalise the amount of compensation," Sitharaman told reporters at Belagavi after the aerial survey.

Former chief minister H D Kumaraswamy who too visited Belagavi, said a big calamity has struck the state and the government has a big challenge ahead to provide relief to the people.

He advised chief minister to take the officials into confidence and get the work done.

"A big challenge is staring him (Yediyurappa). The cabinet has not been formed yet. He is the only minister in the government on whose shoulders lies the responsibility of 30 districts. At least he can take officials into confidence and extract work from them," Kumaraswamy said.

Meanwhile, rescue and rehabilitation works intensified across the state with Army, National Disaster Response Force and State Disaster Response Force, Civil Defence, Railways, police, home guards, scouts and guides chipping in to provide relief to the thousands of displaced people.