Belgaum: The claim made by Revenue Minister Jagadish Shettar in the Legislative Assembly on Wednesday that the Government has provided Rs. 16 crore in addition to the Rs. 51 crore available with the district administration for flood relief has left officials confused, as the figures quoted by him do not match the facts.

A senior official told The Hindu on condition of anonymity that the Government had not released any money towards relief measures this year. Also, it was not Rs. 51 crore, but a little more than Rs. 3 crore that was left with the district administration out of the funds provided for flood relief.

Sources said that the district administration had urged the Government to provide only Rs. 5 crore towards flood relief in some of the villages in the district.

So far, the district administration had been only assessing damage to public property, they said.

Following instructions from Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy and Deputy Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa, Social Welfare Minister Balachandra Jarkiholi and Horticulture Minister Shahikant A. Naik rushed to assess the gravity of the flood situation, particularly in the low-lying villages on either side of the Krishna on Wednesday.

They visited Manjri, Manjri Harijankere, Manjri barrage, Yadur, Kallol, Jugul and Mangawati along with senior officials of the district administration.

Dattu Hakyagol, MLA, Deputy Commissioner Shalini Rajneesh, Inspector General of Police, North Western Range T.D. Doreswamy and Superintendent of Police Hemant Nimbalkar accompanied them.

Later, Mr. Jarkiholi told presspersons in Ugar that the situation was not as serious as last year.

But 47 low-lying villages along banks of the river in Chikkodi, Raibag and Athani taluks faced the threat of floods as inflow into the Alamatti dam downstream had increased to 1.49 lakh cusecs while the outflow was 1.50 lakh cusecs as on Wednesday, he said.

No information

There was no information from Maharashtra on the quantity of water being released from Koyna dam into Krishna in the upper stream, he said.

Mr. Jarkiholi said the district administration had been asked to be on the alert and ensure timely relief.

On the loss of crops, he said the issue would be discussed with the officials concerned.

Mr. Naik said he would try to get compensation for crop loss owing to incessant rainfall and floods in some of the villages in Belgaum and Khanapur taluks and other parts of the district.

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