Maharashtra Govt releases Rs 154 cr for aid to flood victims

The Maharashtra government said on Friday evening that it had released Rs 154 crore to district collectors for disbursal of aid to flood-affected people in western Maharashtra and elsehwere.

Chief secretary Ajoy Mehta said if there was paucity of funds, district collectors have been authorized to do "negative debit" from the treasury to draw more funds.

Flood-affected families will get Rs 10,000 each in rural areas and Rs 15,000 in urban areas, he said.

Adequate stocks of medicines have been rushed to Sangli and Kolhapur districts to deal with leptospirosis cases, he said.

Maharashtra received 782 mm of rain between June to August, 109 per cent of the average rainfall in this period, he said.

Since August 4, Kolhapur received 124 per cent of average rainfall, while Sangli received 224 per cent of average rainfall.

In Satara district, the rainfall was 181 per cent.

A total of 12 tehsils -- eight in Kolhapur and four in Sangli -- have been affected.

As many as 329 villages -- 239 in Kolhapur and 90 in Sangli -- are grappling with floods.

So far, 2,52,813 people have been rescued.

Seventy medical teams are working in the flood- affected areas, the chief secretary said.

Forty teams are working to restore electricity supply, he said.

The death toll due to rain-related incidents in the state since the onset of monsoon was 144.

According to preliminary estimates, crops over one lakh hectares have been lost, he said.