Belgaum: Deputy Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa has accused the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government at the Centre of discriminating against Karnataka by not releasing funds for flood relief measures promptly and said the floods in the State are due to the discharge of a huge quantity of water from reservoirs in Maharashtra.

Talking to presspersons at the Sambra airport, 10 km from here, during an aerial survey of some of the flood-affected areas in northern Karnataka on Thursday, he said the Centre had released funds to Congress-ruled Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh for flood relief.

He said the Centre should not be biased in providing relief to victims of natural calamities. The State Government submitted a memorandum in the first week of August requesting the Centre to provide Rs. 1,506 crore for relief measures. The Government had sought the release of Rs. 500 crore immediately as the first instalment.

He said the Centre had released Rs. 44 crore as the first instalment under the annual Calamity Relief Fund grants this year. The State Government had released Rs. 25 crore for relief measures in the flood-affected areas.

He said there was no option but to relocate 64 villages, including 30 villages on the banks of the Krishna in Athani and Raibag taluks of Belgaum district and in Bagalkot district. A Rs. 288-crore proposal in this regard was already before the Centre. Another proposal to shift the remaining 34 villages at a cost of Rs. 37 crore was before the Government, he said.

Over 700 villages affected

So far, floods had affected 764 villages in eight districts of northern Karnataka. The floods had claimed 12 lives, destroyed crops in 93,000 hectares and damaged 4,679 houses, he said.

Mr. Yediyurappa described reports hinting at a change in the leadership of the JD(S)-BJP coalition government and the dropping of four ministers as a "media creation."

But he did not offer any comment on why the JD(S) convened a meeting of its legislators in Bangalore on Thursday.

Compensation

He promised that suitable compensation would be paid to journalists and press photographers whose cameras and cellphones were damaged in an accident during Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy's visit to flood-affected areas in Athani taluk on August 4.

About 25 journalists and photographers fell overboard when the boat taking them to a village surrounded by floodwaters tilted.

Central team

Raichur Staff Correspondent reports:

Mr. Yediyurappa said a team from the Centre was expected to visit the flood-affected areas in the State next week. In this context, a meeting chaired by the Chief Minister would be held in Bangalore on Friday to take the stock of the flood situation, he said. The Deputy Chief Minister then left for an inspection of flood-hit areas in Gulbarga district.

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