Bangalore, Oct 23 (IANS) A nine-member central team, which surveyed 10 districts of flood-ravaged north Karnataka, Friday declared that the recent calamity in the region was of a “severe nature”.
“The flood calamity that struck northern districts of the state is of severe nature. A report on the magnitude of devastation, including loss of life and property, will be submitted to the inter-ministerial committee in a fortnight,” team leader O. Ravi, joint secretary in the union home ministry, told reporters here.

The inter-ministerial committee is comprised of union ministers of finance, home and agriculture and the deputy chairman of the Planning Commission.

To assess the damage, the team surveyed for three days since Wednesday 10 districts in the region that was battered by heavy rains and flash floods from Sep 29-Oct 2. The calamity claimed 226 lives, destroyed about 501,400 houses, drowned 7,800 head of cattle, inundated 4,290 villages, and destroyed around 1.13 million hectares of crop lands.

“We have sought clarifications from the state government on immediate infrastructure requirements and their estimated cost. The quantum of relief will be based on the norms of the National Calamity Contingency Fund (NCCF) as spelt out by the 12th Finance Commission in 2007,” Ravi said.

Returning from the survey of the worst-affected districts, the team members held meetings with Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa and top officials, including Chief Secretary S.V. Ranganath, at the state secretariat here.

“We will also look into the state demand for relaxing the norms to enhance the relief limit and submit our recommendations to the 13th Finance Commission in the next five-six months,” Ravi noted.

The present Finance Commission, headed by Vijay Kelkar, deals with the devolution of funds by the centre to all states across the country.

The state government submitted a memorandum to the central team detailing the extent of damage to agricultural and horticultural crops, infrastructure and soil erosion.

“The state government’s assessment of the damage appears to be appropriate. Though we have not received serious complaints from the affected people, farmers have sought crop loans,” Ravi added.