State to finalise plan for Central aid from flood-hit areas today

More than 4 lakh evacuated till now

The death toll from the deluge in western Maharashtra has reached 40, with the discovery of five more bodies from the Sangli boat accident. More than four lakh people have so far been evacuated from flood-affected areas, including 3.78 lakh from Kolhapur and Sangli.

On Monday, the Chief Secretary will hold a meeting of all department secretaries to finalise the memorandum to be sent to the Centre for financial and other aid to tackle the floods. “The Chief Secretary has called a meeting at 11 a.m. and another at 5 p.m.,” an official of the State Relief and Rehabilitation department said.

Chief Secretary Ajoy Mehta had said on Friday that the floods have affected farmland of over one lakh hectare in Kolhapur and Sangli districts.

“At present, we are concentrating on rescue work. Once the water recedes, we will calculate the actual losses. Based on that a report will be sent to the Centre for aid,” Mr Mehta had said.

The Congress on Sunday demanded that the floods be declared an ‘L3’ (very large-scale) disaster as per the National Disaster Management Authority guidelines. In a letter to Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, Maharashtra Congress general secretary Sachin Sawant said, “So far, the Centre has not provided any major assistance. With this, it would become mandatory for the Centre to assist the flood-affected people.”

The floods have affected 70 tehsils and 761 villages in Kolhapur, Sangli, Thane, Nashik, Palghar, Ratnagiri, Raigad and Sindhudurg districts.

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