Rs 3,000-cr required to repair infrastructure in Kodagu, DK, other rain-hit districts

Bengaluru, Aug 28: The chief minister H D Kumaraswamy led government now has to shell out a huge amount to rebuild and repair infrastructure in Kodagu and other districts that were affected by heavy rainfall, flooding and landslides in the last three months.

At least 800 homes were destroyed while 2,225 km roads, 240 bridges and 65 government buildings were severely damaged due to rains since June. The government has estimated that about Rs 3,000 crore is required to rebuild and repair these infrastructures.

A detailed proposal is expected to be submitted to the Union government, with estimated cost for rebuilding, will be prepared in the next two days.

Apart from Kodagu, three coastal districts of Dakshina Kannada, Udupi and Uttara Kannada, and Chikkamagaluru, Hassan, Shivamogga, Belagavi and Mysuru were severely affected by the heavy rains.

At a meeting to review rain-related damage in the State, Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy was informed that ₹3,000 crore was required to put back nearly 2,225 km of National and State Highways, and major district roads besides the 240 bridges that had collapsed. Monday’s meeting took stock of rain-related damage across nine districts in the State that have been battered by rain in the last three months.

The meeting had been convened to discuss proposals to be sent to Union government seeking compensation for the losses suffered. Among the highways that are out of bounds for traffic due to landslides are an NH 275 stretch between Madikeri-Sullia, the NH 75 stretch between Sakleshpur and Gundiya and the NH 234 stretch between Charmadi and Kottigehara.

Mr. Kumaraswamy has asked officials to prepare detailed proposals outlining the damages and estimated costs of for repairing public property, including roads, bridges and buildings; estimated losses to private property; estimated loss to plantation crops such as coffee, pepper and arecanut, and paddy.

Meanwhile, a senior official involved in relief and rehabilitation work said that it would take a few more days to get the final assessment of damages in rain-hit areas since the survey work was still under progress.