Floods in Maharashtra: Free ration, crop loan waivers for affected

CM Fadnavis takes stock of the flood-affected areas in Sangli. PICS/PTI

Long with rebuilding public and private infrastructure and rehabilitating flood-affected people, the state government has announced an additional relief package for the affected people. On Monday, the sub-committee for post-flood monitoring headed by Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis also set up an expert panel to study the floods in western Maharashtra and recommend measures to mitigate them in the future.

The state government has offered free ration to the affected people for the next three months. The farmers will get a complete crop loan waiver for a landholding of up to 1 hectare. Those who didn't avail crop loans will get thrice the amount of damage compensation approved by the assessors. Power bills for agricultural pumps will not be recovered in the next three months too.

Also Read: Maharashtra floods: Damaged houses to be rebuilt under PMAY, says Devendra Fadnavis

A special state grant of Rs1 lakh will be given for building new homes. This will be in addition to the amount that will be given under the PM Aavas Yojana. Till the homes are built, the affected families will get Rs24,000 (rural) and Rs36,000 (urban) each for alternative housing. The government will supply free of cost sand and murrum (a type of soil) for construction.

The Centre too will be urged to extend the deadline for filing income tax and value-added tax returns and restructure loans that were taken for various purposes. Small traders will get up to Rs50,000 as one-time assistance. The flood-affected will be assisted by the government's Mahaonline project recreating lost or damaged documents and records.

Incessant rainfall in Western Maharashtra has caused major damage to life, property and crops in the region.

Vadnere heads expert panel

Former water resources secretary Nandkumar Vadnere will head an expert committee for studying the reasons that caused an unprecedented flood situation in the Krishna basin. The panel has been asked to recommend measures to mitigate any further eventuality of it.

Former executive director of water resources department A R Kolavale, water management expert Pradeep Purandare and representatives of Maharashtra Water Resources Authority, Central Water Commission, National Environment Engineering Research Institute, IIT-Mumbai, Maharashtra Remote Application Centre, IITM- Pune and water resources department will be part of this committee.

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