K’taka flood: Inter-ministerial central team to visit state to assess flood damage

Team Udayavani, Aug 24, 2019, 10:03 AM IST

Bengaluru: An inter-ministerial central team will visit Karnataka for four days beginning Saturday to assess the damage caused by the recent floods.

The decision has been taken after Home Minister Amit Shah conducted an aerial survey of the flood-hit areas in Karnataka.

“An inter-ministerial team will be visiting Karnataka from August 24 to 27 to assess the flood damage and relief operations,” a Home Ministry official said.

Officers from the Ministries of Agriculture, Finance, Road Transport, Rural Development and Jal Shakti will be part of the team.

On August 19, a high-level meeting, chaired by the Home minister had decided to immediately constitute and send inter-ministerial central teams (IMCTs) to 11 states to asses the damage caused by the recent floods.

As per the decision, the teams will be immediately constituted and sent to Assam, Meghalya, Tripura, Bihar, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Karnataka and Kerala.

It is a significant departure from the existing practice of deputing an IMCT after the receipt of memorandum from the state in the wake of any severe calamity.

The IMCT will henceforth be constituted immediately in the aftermath of any natural calamity of severe nature, which will visit the affected areas in the state so as to have a first-hand assessment of damages caused and relief work carried out by the state administration, a statement said.

The team will again visit the state after submission of the memorandum for detailed assessment of the damages and relief operations conducted for making final recommendations for allocation of additional funds.

At present, the team visits the affected state only once after the receipt of memorandum from the state.