The AIADMK yesterday demanded a white paper on the expenditure of flood relief funds announced by the Tamil Nadu government as untimely torrential rain lashed the state taking the death toll to 20, wh

MINISTER of State Revenue Dr Rajendra Shingane on Monday promised in the State Legislative Assembly that those citizens in Pune, whose properties were affected during the 1961 Panshet flood, would be

SPOT ASSESSMENT: Local Administration Minister, M.K. Stalin, inspecting rain-affected areas at Desigapuram in Virudhunagar district on Sunday.

The Lakhimpur District Branch of Indian Red Cross Society conducted a series of relief camps to distribute essentials to the flood victims in different parts of the district.

The Government has allocated Rs. 5 million from February 20 to Kalutara, Polonnaruwa and Matara districts to face natural disaster situations and to carry out relief assistance to victims, said Resettlement and Disaster Relief Services Minister Rishad Badiudeen. Accordingly Rs. 152,000 was allocated to Athuraliya Divisional Secretariat Division in Matara district for flood relief activities. The Government has also released Rs. 767,073 to Dimbulagala, Welikanda and Thamankaduwa Divisional Secretariat Divisions for relief works in case of sudden floods

An amount of Rs 5.89 crore has been allocated to Manipur under Calamity Relief Fund (CRF) for the year 2007-08 comprising Rs 4.42 crore as Central contribution and Rs 1.47 crore as State contribution. This was stated by V Radhika Selvi, Union Minister of State for Home Affairs. The Union Minister assured that the Government of India would extend all possible assistance to the State for meeting the situation caused by heavy rains and floods in Manipur. She also informed that the execution of rescue and relief operations in the wake of natural calamities was primarily the responsibility of the concerned State Government. The Government of India supplemented the efforts of the concerned State Government by providing requisite logistic and financial support to meet the situation. For the purpose, a Calamity Relief Fund was constituted with contributions of Government of India and the State Government in the ratio 3:1.

The Naduar region in Sonitpur district has been one of the most neglected areas in the State, according to the people here. One of the main causes of this opinion has been the indifferent attitude of the Government towards the checking of erosion caused by the Jia Bhoroli river. The citizens of greater Naduar have vehemently criticised the State Government for it failure to check the erosion of cultivable land of the people residing near the Jia Bhoroli river, though successive Governments in the State have claimed to have spent more than Rs 15 crore from the exchequer in the name of flood-protection measures. Till date, more than 5,000 hectares of cultivable land have been washed away by the mighty river. People living in the areas near the river

The Central Government has approved 75 flood control and anti-erosion schemes proposed by the State Water Resources Department (WRD) for implementation from this financial year. The schemes are worth around Rs 434.839 crore, 29 thousand. The Centre is releasing before March next the first installment worth Rs 97.83 crore against the schemes. However, the release of funds will depend on the progress of implementation of the schemes.