Uttar Pradesh government has demanded an immediate Central financial assistance of Rs 2,351 crore to overcome the damages caused by recent floods.
Besides, the state has urged the Centre to dispatch a team to UP to assess the flood situation and the massive damage caused by it. UP maintained that despite several missives, no additional financial assistance had been provided so far by the Centre.
About 33 districts in UP were hit by floods, causing loss of lives and property, besides inundating large swathes of farm land. Several thousand hectares of standing crop, including sugarcane, had been destroyed in floods, especially in western Uttar Pradesh.
UP chief secretary Atul Kumar Gupta yesterday sent a letter to the Union home ministry demanding the funds for repair,reconstruction and rebuilding of roads, bridges, embankments and other infrastructure damaged by floods and to provide relief to the affected people.
He said owing to unprecedented floods, Uttar Pradesh had been facing serious challenges, while the standing crops had suffered huge losses. Although the affected districts had been provided relief, the damaged infrastructure needed to be restored immediately, he said.
Earlier, UP Chief Minister Mayawati had conducted aerial survey and spot inspection of flood affected areas on September 22 and declared western UP as a disaster-affected area.
On September 22, she had written to the Prime Minister demanding an additional amount of Rs 2,000 crore to fight the flood situation and dispatch of central team. She again sent a letter to the Centre on September 29.
On the basis of preliminary estimates, a demand of Rs 2,175 crore was made by the principal secretary (revenue) and state relief commissioner on September 27.
