more-in A three-member Central team assessed damage due to recent floods in different parts of the district on Saturday. The team, comprising Ashu Mathur, Adviser, Finance Ministry., T.S. Mehra, Resource Commissioner, Ministry of Water Resources., and Anil Kumar Sanghi, joint secretary, National Disaster Management Authority., held discussions with District Collector S. Suhas and other officials here. Authorities told the team that the district suffered a loss of ?935.38 crore as per Central norms. The exact loss due to the floods was over ?4,000 crore. Sector-wise loss was also presented before the team. According to the Alappuzha district administration, 43 people died in the floods in the district and ?40.59 crore was spent for rescue operations. As much as ?50.61 crore and ?17.56 crore were utilised for relief operations and post-flood cleaning activities in the district. The team later visited places in Kuttanad and Chengannur taluks. They inspected the flood-ravaged Alappuzha- Changanassery (AC) road, bund-breached paddy polders and houses destroyed in the region. In Kuttanad, the team visited the worst flood-hit areas of Kainakary besides Muttar, Mankombu, Veliyanad and Neerettupuram. Kainakary panchayat president Sheela V.V. said the local body authorities had raised various issues pertaining to the region before the Central team. “We urged them to consider Kainakary panchayat as special place different from others parts of Kuttanad and declare a special package. There are 26 padashekarams in Kainakary and the entire region was submerged in floods. Beyond the construction of outerbunds and steps to protect agriculture, we need to initiate a sustainable approach to protect the lives and livelihood of the people in the region,” Ms. Sheela said. The Central team visited Kuppappuram Primary Health Centre and Kanakkassery paddy polder. They also visited Pandand, Edanad and Venmony in Chengannur taluk The team will visit Ambalappuzha, Haripad and Thripperumthura on Sunday.

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