Revenue minister Karunakar Reddy has dismissed governor H R Bharadwaj’s charges that the flood relief work in North Karnataka district were tardy.
When reporters sought his reaction to the governor’s observations, Reddy, who was in Dharwad on Friday to review the progress of relief work said he had visited the flood-affected districts and found the officers to be doing their best to provide relief to those affected.
He declined to elaborate on the governor’s remarks. The minister also refused to comment on the former RDPR minister Shobha Karandlaje’s reported remark that the relief work in Racihur district was unsatisfactory.
Reddy said the officials were engaged in assessment of damage and providing relief. “They are burdened with work. We should not discourage them with such unsavoury remarks,” he said.
The minister reviewed the progress of relief works in Dharwad district and asked the officials concerned to ensure there was no compromise as far as the quality of work was concerned.
He was specific on the quality of roads and bridges being built in the affected areas. He asked officials to upgrade bridges and culverts to avoid recurrence of problems.
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When the officials informed him that 17 classrooms in primary schools and 55 anganawadi buildings that suffered needed Rs 59 lakh for repairs, Karunakar Reddy asked deputy commissioner Darpan Jain not to sanction the amount before getting the buildings inspected by a third party comprising of experts before the commencement of repair works.
He also instructed officials to expedite the work of shifting the villages affected by hastening the process of identifying and acquiring the land for rehabilitation.
DC Darpan Jain said the district administration has sought an additional grant of Rs 75 crore for taking up relief work in the district. He said, 45 crore had already been disbursed as compensation to the flood victims and work on restoring the infrastructure was on at a cost of Rs 30 crore. He said the government had so far released Rs 54 crore for relief operations.
The DC said acquisition of land for shifting of Kongawad, Gudisagar and Arahatti villages in Navalagund taluk had been completed. Steps are being taken to shift partially residents of eight other villages.