K'taka govt releases Rs 200 crore for rain relief, rehabilitation
Bengaluru, Aug 6: As torrential rains continue to batter many parts of Karnataka on Saturday, the State government released Rs 200 crore to take up relief and rehabilitation operations, even as Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai instructed constitution of two more State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) contingents.
The Chief Minister, who has tested COVID-19 positive, held a video conference with Deputy Commissioners (DCs) of rain-affected districts, Ministers and officials, and obtained details on flood havoc, landslides, crop losses and relief work undertaken, from his home where he has isolated himself.
While 70 people have lost their lives due to incessant rains from June 1 to August 6; a total of 507 livestock loss have been reported during the period.
Bommai has instructed the officials to constitute the additional SDRF contingents to strengthen relief and rescue systems, his office said in a statement.
"Already, SDRF and NDRF contingents have been deployed in the flood-hit areas. The DCs should maintain constant contact with the teams and take up immediate relief and rehabilitation works," he said.
Further stating that there is no shortage of funds for relief and rehabilitation operations, the Chief Minister said already Rs 200 crore has been released for 21 districts, and the DCs should take immediate action to disburse compensation for houses destroyed or damaged.
According to information, till August 2, a sum of Rs 657 crore was available with the DCs to take up rescue and relief works, and the State government today released Rs 200 crore for 21 districts.
Repair and restoration of roads, bridges and electric supply lines should be taken up immediately, he said, power supply in villages should be restored and DCs should interact with the electricity supply companies (ESCOMS) concerned in this regard.
Adequate stock of electric poles and transformers should be ensured, and crop loss survey should be completed at the earliest and compensation disbursed without any delay, he added.
Bommai wanted the officials to issue flood alerts in advance and instructed for action in this regard at Bennehalla in Gadag district, Varada river banks in Haveri district and other places.
Alerts should be issued to villages downstream before releasing waters from reservoirs, and precautions should be taken to prevent breach of tank bunds, he said.
He wanted the officials to also identify the areas prone to landslides in Kodagu, Dakshina Kannada and Uttara Kannada districts and to shift the people in these areas to safer places. "People should be provided with good, quality food at the care centres," he said.
While 3,559 houses have been damaged completely due to rains, 17,212 houses have been partially damaged,.
Agriculture crops in 1,29,087 hectares, horticulture crops in 7,942 hectares, 3,162 km of roads, 8,445 km of rural roads, 1,068 bridges and culverts, 4,531 schools, 222 anganwadis have been damaged.
Also, 16,760 electric poles, 1,469 transformers, 409 km of electric wires, and 33 minor irrigation tanks have been damaged.
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Washington Sundar's twin strikes help India keep New Zealand at 92/3 at lunch on day one, 3rd Test
Mumbai (PTI): Off-spinner Washington Sundar stymied New Zealand’s progress with two vital strikes as the visitors reached 92/3 at lunch against India on the opening day of the third and final Test here on Friday.
Washington (2/26) added two more dismissals to bring his wicket tally to 13 in the series, maintaining consistent pressure on the Kiwi batters after pacer Akash Deep (1/22) gave India the first breakthrough.
At lunch, New Zealand had their hopes pinned on Will Young for a long haul who batted well to reach 38 not out (3x4s, 1x6s), with Daryl Mitchell (11 not out) at the other end.
Washington’s identical strikes to remove skipper Tom Latham (28) and in-form Rachin Ravindra (5) helped India pull things back in control in the second half of the session as New Zealand appeared to be consolidating on a day one wicket, which had something in it for all parties involved.
Coming off a 11-wicket match haul in second Test at Pune, Washington picked up rhythm soon after his introduction into the attack to keep testing the Kiwi batters' defence.
It did not take him long to strike, drawing the New Zealand captain out to defend but beating him with the drift and turn on a delivery that pitched in the line of stumps in his third over, Washington beat the bat’s outside edge to hit the off-stump.
Kiwi batting sensation Ravindra suffered a similar fate on the fifth delivery that he faced off the Indian spinner, who again got the ball to drift and turn past the outside edge and hit the off-stump.
Earlier, with not much initial movement off the surface assisting the Indian pacers, the ploy to go a little fuller in length seemed to work well as Mohammed Siraj trapped Devon Conway (4) in front of the wickets but a thick inside edge saved the opener in the third over.
However, Akash angled one into the left-hander which beat Conway’s bat to pin him out leg-before, with New Zealand also burning a review against the on-field call.
While Latham consolidated from there on, using the sweep shot to a good effect, Young once again showed his array of strokes and composite defence as a solid No 3 batter for the Kiwis.
Young went after anything that had width on offer to collect boundaries and having studied R Ashwin (0/20) quite well for the ace Indian spinner's first three overs, he did not have any hesitation in shimmying down the track to clear the ropes over midwicket.
