Central team visits flood-hit areas for 2nd successive day

Bangalore, Aug 25 (UNI) The six-member Central team visited some more flood-ravaged and rain-hit parts of Karnataka for the second successive day today to assess the extent of damage.

The team, which had divided itself into two groups' visited various parts of Belgaum, Shimoga and Raichur districts yesterday, today visited the affected parts Gulbarga, Bagalkot and Bijapur districts.

Joint Secretary in the Union Home Minister V N Gaur said, ''The team had found that the floods had not only created large scale destruction in inhabited areas, but also to standing crops.'' Crops in fields located near river Bhima, which had been in spate following heavy release of water from dams of rain-hit Maharashtra, had been affected to a large extent, he added.

Appreciating the Gulbarga district administration's efforts in tackling the flood situation, he said the loss had been minimised due to their timely action.

The three-member team also assessed the affected parts of Bijapur district and listened to the grievances of the people.

Floods had wreaked havoc in Belgaum, Gulbarga, Raichur, Bagalkot and Bijapur districts in North Karnataka, which had recorded lowest rainfall in the last three decades, following heavy discharge of water from Ujjini and Veerbhatkal dams of rain-hit Maharashtra.

The state government had submitted a memorandum to the Centre seeking a financial assistance of Rs 1400 crore and an additional three lakh tonnes of foodgrains to combat flood situation in the state.

It had also sought President A P J Abdul Kalam during his visit to the state recently to intervene and prevail upon the Centre to release an interim relief of Rs 100 crore.

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