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Friday, 09 October 2009 |
India's IT bellwether Infosys Technologies Ltd and biotechnology major Biocon Ltd pledged to re-build around 6,000 houses at a cost of Rs.60 crore for the flood-affected people of north Karnataka, Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa said Thursday.
"The IT and biotech industries in the state have come forward to help the state government in re-building houses for the people whose homes collapsed or got washed away in the flood havoc in 12 districts of north Karnataka last week," Yeddyurappa told reporters here.
Infosys chairman and chief mentor N.R. Narayana Murthy and Biocon chairperson Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, whom the chief minister met earlier in the day, have assured the government of their full support in rehabilitating the affected people.
Infosys will re-build about 3,000 houses for Rs.30 crore - at Rs.100,000 per house. Similarly, Biocon will re-build another 3,000 houses for the same cost. |
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Thursday, 08 October 2009 |
 The floods in the northern Karnataka could have actually been avoided or at least the damage significantly minimised. Though the authorities have unanimously chosen to blame nature for the tragedy, different government departments have given different reasons for the flood, besides pointing fingers at each other.
The rainfall predictions of the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) were way off the mark. The department predicted 27 mm rainfall in Raichur on October 2, it received 198 mm. Bagalkot was expected to receive only 18 mm rainfall, it poured 104 mm. Likewise, in Chithradurga, the predicted figure was 141 mm, but it recorded only 28 mm. These serious miscalculations point towards a major flaw in the technology and systems used in the state and the country to predict weather.
V S Prakash of the Drought Management Cell concurred, and said that the systems used currently to predict the weather are not accurate and though there is an effort to revamp existing systems, the process would take nearly 7 years.
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Last Updated ( Thursday, 08 October 2009 )
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Tuesday, 06 October 2009 |
 Karnataka continues to reel under one of it worst floods in recent times. The death toll has crossed 200 and 25 lakh hectares of standing crop has been damaged, as per a report prepared by the state government.
Although the rains have subsided to a large extent, the relief operation continues and several people continue to remain displaced. Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa is now conducting an aerial survey of Bagalkot, Gulbarga and Koppal, all in the northern Karnataka, which has been the worst hit.
While water levels in all these areas have receded thanks to a break in relentless rains for the past two days, another major worry is clean drinking water. |
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Monday, 05 October 2009 |
 From a helicopter, Sonia Gandhi and P Chidambaram saw what is left of hundreds of villages. Adrift in the water that has ravaged Northern Karnataka, the homes, savings and lives of so many.
On the ground, the Karnataka Chief Minister says a padayatra (walkathon) will be led by him to help raise money for rehabilitation.
The government has promised to build 200,000 new homes. Several villages in the Cauvery and Krishna basins have to be permanently relocated. And to minimize delays, government staff have been asked not to go on leave for the next two months.
For villages like Suggenahalli, power and drinking water have both disappeared. Ramesh, a school teacher, says, "It is very difficult for us. Food grains were spoilt, stored money was lost." |
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Last Updated ( Monday, 05 October 2009 )
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Saturday, 03 October 2009 |
 With no rain on Saturday, the flood waters in Northern Karnataka are receding. That's allowing rescue operations to pick up. Ten helicopters are dropping food packets and collecting stranded people, wherever possible.
132 people have died in the floods in Karnataka after four days of torrential rainfall. Bijapur, Bellary and Bagalkote were worst-affected.
At the Raichur railway station, passengers on Bangalore-Delhi trains have been stranded for 36 hours. The station is 400 kilometres from Bangalore. Locals have been bringing these passengers food and other supplies.
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