Mumbai: The death toll rose to 207 and 11 are still missing due to incessant rains and floods in nine districts of Maharashtra and the state government will need Rs 6000 crore to provide relief in these districts, said a senior officer from the department of disaster management, relief and rehabilitation. On the other hand, the minister of disaster management, relief and rehabilitation Vijay Wadettiwar, who extensively travelled in Raigad, Ratnagiri and Sangli to take stock of the devastation, said the government will need Rs 500 crore for repair of roads and power transmission and distribution severely damaged to torrential rains in these districts.
The state cabinet will meet on Wednesday to discuss the damage caused by rains and the compensation and aid to be provided to the villages.
The districts which were adversely affected by rains include Thane, Palghar, Raigad, Ratnagiri, Sindhudurg, Satara, Sangli, Kolhapur, Akola, Wardha and Mumbai Suburban. In all 1043 villages were impacted.
‘’There is a proposal that the Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (MHADA) will reconstruct the houses while the government will provide civic amenities in these villages. The roads and power supply have been damaged severely and for that Rs 500 crore will be needed. The rehabilitation of the affected people will be done in phases,’’ said Wadettiewar.
As reported by Free Press Journal, Wadettiwar has announced that the government will deposit Rs 10,000 each in the bank account of the families affected by the natural calamity and provide food grains worth Rs 5,000 each.
“The government is considering taking measures to tackle such natural calamities in the long term. The Gadgil Committee has recommended that the Konkan be declared an eco-sensitive zone. Therefore, if the natural cover is compromised, such consequences have to be borne. I feel there is a need to take a bitter decision," said Vadettiwar.
In the wake of complaints that NDRF and SDRF teams have not reached the flood-hit areas on time, Wadettiwar said the government plans to deploy them permanently in these districts and also strengthen the district-level disaster management centres.
