After a lull, rains again lashed parts of Kerala on Wednesday while in Karnataka the situation in coastal and south interior regions improved further with a let up in the downpour, as the toll rose to 163 with over 50 people missing in the two states. Around six lakh people have been housed in over 2000 relief camps in the two states.
A Kerala government update at 5 PM said 102 people lost their lives across the state in floods and landslides, triggered by the second spell of monsoon, since August 8. Officials said though people have started shifting to their homes in many places, there are still 1,89,649 sheltered in 1,119 relief camps. Relief operations are in full swing in flood-ravaged districts of Karnataka, where the toll has gone up to 61 with seven more bodies recovered on Wednesday, as the rains abated in some areas.
Pathanamthitta district was put on high vigil due to torrential rains since last night. A holiday was declared for educational institutions in 11 of the 14 districts in the state on Wednesday. The government announced a flood compensation package with an immediate financial aid of up to Rs 10,000 each to all calamity-hit families which had suffered loss in the floods and landslips triggered by the second spell of monsoon.
After chairing a cabinet meeting, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said Rs 4 lakh compensation would be given to those whose houses had been fully damaged or had become uninhabitable and Rs 10 lakh to those who had lost their house as well as land. Flood-hit families and fishermen would be given 35 kg free rice.
Mallapuram district accounted for most deaths with toll there rising to 42 on Wednesday and 29 people still missing, followed by Kozhikode (17), Wayanad (12 deaths, 7 missing), Kannur 9 and Thrissur 8. One person was missing in Kottayam district. As per a state government update, 11,286 houses have been partially damaged and 1,060 fully damaged.
In neighbouring Karnataka, inflows into the reservoirs were steadily decreasing, and flood situation has improved in the affected districts of north, coastal and Malnad regions, where the rain fury had created mayhem in the past one week. "Relief operations are in full swing and senior officers camping in the districts to oversee the relief operations," an official release said. While 15 people are still classified as missing, nearly seven lakh people have been evacuated till date.
According to the government, 103 taluks in 22 districts have been affected by floods and incessant rains in the past few days, resulting in loss of agriculture and horticulture crops on 4.69 lakh hectares and damaging 58,620 houses. Meanwhile, the CM's Relief Fund has received Rs 4.09 crore donation towards flood relief.
Meanwhile, the Karnataka government on August 14 transferred Rs 2,000 to each of the bank account of one lakh farmers as part of its announcement to provide additional financial assistance from the state to the beneficiaries of the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi Scheme.
The scheme of the government of India was aimed at providing financial benefit of Rs 6,000 per year to eligible farmer families in three installments.
As soon as assuming charge as the Chief Minister, B S Yediyurappa had announced that the state government would provide Rs 4,000 to every farmer covered under PM-Kisan scheme, in two installments, in addition to the Rs 6,000 by the central government.
On Wednesday, the first installment of Rs 2,000 of the state's incentive was remitted to each of the one lakh farmers' bank accounts via aadhaar-based direct benefit transfer (DBT).
Details of the total of 44.93 lakh farmers from Karnataka have been sent to government of India to receive the financial benefit under the PM-Kisan scheme.
Of them, the Centre has approved 34.28 lakh farmers for giving financial benefit.
Karnataka government has earmarked Rs 2,200 crore for paying each farmer Rs 4,000 per year as additional financial assistance under the PM-KISAN scheme.
The state government has developed a web portalfruitspmk.karnataka.gov.in for maintenance of farmers'database.