04 August,2021 07:37 AM IST | Mumbai | Dharmendra Jore
Buses submerged in a flood-hit Chiplun, Ratnagiri district. File pic
The Maharashtra Cabinet on Tuesday approved Rs 11,500-crore relief package for districts battered by natural calamities like floods and landslides. The fund will be spent on short-term and long-term measures.
It will cover the cost of immediate relief to the distressed people, farmers and traders, and for rehabilitation and building of infrastructure that can sustain the calamities, which killed over 200 people across the state last month. Relief and Rehabilitation Minister Vijay Wadettiwar said the compensation for house collapse would be between Rs 15,000 and Rs 1.50 lakh, depending on the severity of the damage. The interim compensation of Rs 10,000 each to be given would be more than the norms approved by the National Disaster Relief Fund (NDRF).
Farmers would receive compensation for the loss of 30,000 hectares of agricultural land and death of their cattle. Traders would get Rs 50,000 each against the damages to their shops. The roadside joints would get Rs 10,000 each.
A certain amount of the package would be used for building roads and other infrastructure, like laying the electricity network. The family of the deceased would be given financial assistance of R9 lakh through the NDRF, the Chief Minister and the Prime Minister funds.
"No cash will be given to the beneficiaries. The administration has been told to either give cheque or do direct bank transfer," Wadettiwar said after the Cabinet meeting chaired by CM Uddhav Thackeray. Among the worst-affected districts were Satara, Sangli and Kolhapur in western Maharashtra, and Raigad and Ratnagiri in Konkan. Other regions in the state were affected, too, and the package would cover all these areas.
Cabinet minister Nawab Malik said MHADA would build new houses for the landslide-hit Taliye villagers in Raigad district and four other hamlets. Flood-resistant prefabricated houses would be built at a cost of Rs 4.5 lakh per unit. A separate policy would be approved for rehabilitating landslide-prone villages, Malik added.
Thackeray has directed for the construction of a retaining wall for flood control in Mahad and Chiplun, and desilting of Vashishti, Gandhari and Savitri rivers within three years. The remaining work on Kalu and Shai irrigation projects must also be finished in three years, he directed.
A proposal to bring the tailrace water of Koyna hydropower project to Mumbai would be studied again in three months. The CM asked a committee of experts under the chief secretary to recommend measures to prevent landslides. He also wants an advanced flood warning system in 26 valleys in Konkan in the next three months.
Opposition leader Devendra Fadnavis claimed the package actually gives only R1,500 crore in direct and urgent assistance to the affected people. "Only Rs 3,000 crore for reconstruction and Rs 7,000 crore for other mitigation purpose are long-term expenditure. Prima facie, the farmers have not been given any assistance," he claimed.
Minister Nawab Malik, who represents one of the constituencies in Mumbai, said the Cabinet did not discuss any plan to allow everyone back on local trains and Metro. "No decision has been taken on this," he said, sounding a caution against the backdrop of the reported advent of the third wave in Europe and the US.
He also denied discrimination against any district, particularly Pune, in the extension of shop timings. According to latest relaxations, in Mumbai shops can stay open till 10 pm, while the time to shutter down is 8 pm in districts with lower caseload and TPR and 4 pm in districts with higher caseload and TPR, including Pune.
"Mumbai has a test positivity rate of less than 1 per cent, Pune's is more than 5 per cent," he said.
Advising political parties that have threatened protests, Malik said protesters were defying the request of the PM. "It seems they don't abide by their leader who wants us to prevent a third wave."
