Karnataka govt releases funds towards flood relief and rehabilitation

Nalin Kumar Kateel, BJP Karnataka President on Saturday said that the Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa-led government has released funds towards flood relief and rehabilitation in the affected areas. As per sources, BS Yediyurappa on Thursday, talking about the current flood situation in the state, said that the state has enough funds to implement effective flood relief measures and denied opposition's claim that the Centre failed to release additional funds for the same.

"The state government has released Rs 3,000 crores and has also sent money to the beneficiary accounts through RTGS. Earlier, the then Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy had told people that he would only release funds in accordance with the NDRF guidelines. But, CM BS Yeddyurappa has released the funds already. The chief minister has also visited flood-affected areas," he said while speaking to ANI in Bengaluru.

He further took a jibe at the previous Congress-JDU government for not doing enough for the flood and drought-hit victims while in power.

READ: Karnataka Floods: NDRF rescues 20 foreigners stranded in a resort, details here

Delayed disbursement of funds

The opposition parties had blamed the central government for showing 'apathy' towards Karnataka. Speaking about the delayed disbursement of funds by the central government, Kateel said, 

"It is natural to expect funds from the central government. However, there is a process that needs to be followed. The survey cannot be done at once. Floods have happened at different intervals this year. The survey revealed that flood-related loss in Karnataka is approximately Rs 30,000 crores." 

READ: Bihar floods: Sushant Singh Rajput, Manoj Bajpayee make fervent appeal

Financial assistance of Rs 1,200 crores

On Friday, Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa took to Twitter thanked the central government for the financial assistance of Rs 1,200 crores. Thanking the government, Yediyurappa said, "The central government has released an amount of Rs 1,200 crores for Karnataka in advance from the National Disaster Response Fund. Expressing gratitude for the support to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah on behalf of the people of Karnataka."

Many Indian states including Kerala, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar have been experiencing heavy rainfalls that have led to flood-like situations in the past few weeks. 

READ: Bihar floods: Giriraj Singh says those responsible will be punished

READ: Karnataka floods: CM Yediyurappa says State has enough relief funds

(Inputs from ANI)