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Central team visits State, holds talks with Ministers

Special Correspondent

Team makes on-the-spot assessment of losses from monsoon-related calamities

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Central team, which arrived here on Tuesday for an on-the-spot assessment of losses from monsoon-related calamities, held preliminary discussions with Revenue Minister K.P. Rajendran, Public Works Minister P.J. Joseph, Fisheries Minister S. Sarma, Water Resources Minister N.K. Premachandran and officials in the evening.

The discussions were preceded by a video presentation of the damage caused by floods in various districts of the State and on disaster-prone areas of the State.

The Revenue Minister told presspersons that the Government would be submitting an additional memorandum to the Centre later. In the first memorandum submitted, it had sought assistance totalling Rs.149.08 crores. This covered only the period between May 26 and June 6. The losses to agriculture and infrastructure during this period amounted to Rs.50.3 crores and Rs.90.7 crores respectively.

Mr. Rajendran said the memorandum was prepared as per Central norms. The Central norms did not cover damage from sea erosion and landslips. So, the State was pressing the Centre for their inclusion. Many deaths occurring due to lightning strikes also needed to be covered. The State had spent Rs.43.8 crores on flood relief during the past 45 days.

The members of the team, headed by Joint Secretary of the Ministry of Home Affairs D.S. Mishra, will visit Thiruvananthapuram, Alappuzha, Thrissur, Palakkad, Malappuram, Kozhikode, Kannur and Kasaragod districts in the next three days.

The team has Rajan Kumar of Finance Ministry, K. Manoharan of Agriculture Department, Muhar Singh of Rural Development Ministry, Rekha Pai of Ministry of Environment and Forests and A. Muraleedharan of Water Resources Ministry as members. They will cover the districts in teams of two members each. On their return to Thiruvananthapuram on July 14, they will hold discussions with Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan and visit the flood-affected areas in Thiruvanantha- puram. They will return to Delhi in the afternoon. Mr. Mishra said the team would submit its report in a week.

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