Monday, August 8 2005 13:00 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Bangalore: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has responded positively to Karnataka's request to undertake an aerial survey of flood hit areas to assess the magnitude of devastation caused by the natural calamity, Chief Minister N Dharam Singh said today (Aug 8, 2005).

Singh said he briefed the Prime Minister telephonically from Alamatti Reservoir site in Bijapur yesterday (Aug 7, 2005) on the unprecedented havoc caused by torrential rains and 'abrupt' release of water from Maharashtra from Koyna and Ujjain reservoirs.

"I requested the Prime Minister to undertake an aerial view of the damage and got a positive response from him", Singh said while addressing a press conference in the company of Deputy Chief Minister M P Prakash and Water Resources Minister M Mallikarjun Kharge, on their return from a two-day aerial survey of the flood battered districts of Belgaum, Bijapur and Bagalkot.

Singh said he would be leaving for New Delhi in three or four days to submit a memorandum to the Center seeking Rs 1037 crore financial support for flood relief operations, as the state has suffered extensive damages, not witnessed in the last 50 years.

The Chief Minister appealed to the NGOs, industrial and business Houses, besides people to chip in donations for flood relief works, as they had responded earlier to help the tsunami victims.

Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil will visit the affected areas

Union Home Minister Shivaraj Patil will be visiting the affected areas tomorrow (Aug 9, 2005), he said.

Singh said the Center has released Rs 100 crore, interim assistance to the state for flood relief operations.

He said the state today set up a committee under the Chairmanship of Chief Secretary B K Das comprising Secretaries from Revenue, Finance and Rural development for a round the clock monitoring of flood relief operations.

Prakash joined Singh in dismissing Maharastra's charge that storing of water in Alamatti dam by Karnataka triggered off floods in its areas as 'far from truth and an intentional propaganda'.

He said the areas, which have been hit by floods in Maharastra such as Kholapur, Sangli and Satara, were situated above the sea level and the Alamatti dam was below these areas and asked "We are unable to understand, how our dam water inundates Maharastra areas?".

Prakash said the state was contemplating to introduce insurance for private properties in villages situated on the banks of major rivers and details would be worked out shortly.

He said the Government has decided to double the compensation to crop loss suffered by farmers due to floods from Rs 400 per acre to Rs 800.

The Calamity Relief guidelines stipulated payment of Rs 400 for crop losses and the remaining was being borne by the state, he said.

118 lives have been lost in the torrential rains and about 17,000 houses have suffered damages, according to information circulated by the Government.