Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa on Wednesday said his government has honestly worked "beyond limits" in providing relief and rehabilitation to the flood affected in the state, as he hit out at the opposition for trying to create "confusion".
"Unfortunately, the state had to face an unprecedented flood situation in several areas. Our government gave priorityto rescue, relief and rehabilitation work.
We have efficientlyfaced the situation and managed things," Yediyurappa toldreporters here.
Karnataka had not seen such a flood situation in the last 118 years, Yediyurappa said and also pointed to the drought condition in several other parts of the state.
"The opposition with trying to create confusion... the government has worked beyond its limits to provide relief, rehabilitation and in development work", Yediyurappa said.
His statement came even asthe Leader of the Opposition Siddaramaiah on Wednesday accused the government of turning a blind eye towards food victims.
More From This Section
"Many parts of Ktaka witnessed one of the worstfloods.
It has been more than 90 days since the onset of the disaster. This has disturbed the livelihood of many ppl. Many have no shelter, no fodder, no food, crops destroyed. Yet the govt has turned a blind eye!!" Siddaramaiah tweeted.
"If the govt is incapable of plugging theimplementation gaps they should resign instead of targetingthe opposition to cover their failure.
@BJP4Karnataka leaders& @BSYBJP have time for party meetings but busy to learn the reality of flood victims.
Shame!!" Siddaramaiah said inanother tweet.
A total of 2,798 villages in 103 taluks of 22districts in Karnataka were affected by the rains and floodsin August, in which around seven lakh people were shifted to safe areas.
Ninety one people lost their lives.
Last week there was a second spell of floods in parts of the state, affecting thousands of people, whose damage is currently under assessment, while 49 taluks in 18 districts are drought affected.
Noting that the government had decided to provide more relief to the flood affected than that specified under NDRF norms,he claimed no state in the history of free India, which had been affected by floods, had provided relief beyond norms.
"On one side loan waiver and on other side floodrelief.. despite this we have seen to it that development of the state is not affected," he said.
He listed initiatives like providing Rs 10,000 as immediate relief to those affected,Rs 25,000 to damaged shops, Rs 50,000 to damaged looms and Rs five lakh for reconstruction of damaged houses.
Also, 32,785 owners whose homes were damaged were given Rs one lakh for foundationwork, after which the remaining installments will be released.
He said damaged schools and infrastructure like roads, bridges and electric connections werebeing restored.
Pointing out that the Centre has released Rs 1,200 crore as immediate relief, Yediyurappa said the state wasexpecting more in the days to come.
He claimed that the state's financial condition has improved and therewas no shortage of funds for relief and rehabilitation work and added that Rs 1,027 crore was available with District Deputy Commissioners.
"We have reached the target in tax collection and efforts are on to further improve it," he said.