PANAJI
Two months after cyclone Tauktae battering, Goa is among the States which has not sought any financial assistance for losses caused due to the cyclone.
Revealing this in a written reply to a question in Rajya Sabha on Tuesday, Nityanand Rai, Minister of State for Home Affairs stated, “Memorandums/demands for financial assistance have not been received from the State Governments of Goa, Kerala and Jharkhand.” Government of Odisha too has not sought any financial assistance for relief measures, he stated.
Rai said financial assistance has been sought by Maharashtra, Karnataka, West Bengal, Gujarat and Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu.
In the aftermath of the cyclone, the Centre released financial assistance of Rs 1000 crore to Gujarat, Rs 500 crore to Odisha, Rs 300 crore to West Bengal and Rs 200 crore to Jharkhand as advance.
Besides, the Central government released the first installment of the Central share of SDRF for 2021-22 amounting to Rs 8873.60 crore on April 29, 2021. The government of Goa, however, missed the bus as it did not receive any relief amount due to its own lethargy.
The Goa government is yet to submit its report on damages to the Centre.
Three persons lost their lives, 2004 houses were damaged, 160 cattle died, 227 boats were damaged and 227 hectares of crop area was lost in Goa. The State has failed to submit details of the damages and losses to the Centre, as a result of which it has not received any relief to date.
The State of Gujarat was the worst hit as far as loss of human lives was concerned. A total of 67 people lost their lives in Gujarat, followed by Maharashtra where 22 lost their lives. Kerala lost 11 lives, Karnataka 66 and Jharkhand 4.
The number of houses damaged in Gujarat were 88910, Maharashtra 44091, Odisha 18094, Kerala 5034, Jharkhand 1508 and the two union territories 1203. The crop area damaged in West Bengal was the largest with 170891 ha, followed by Gujarat 149270 ha, Kerala 24433 ha, Maharashtra 16787 ha, Odisha 5672.99 ha, Goa 227 ha, Karnataka 215 ha, Jharkhand 74.94 and two UTs 51.22 ha.
The damage to boats and nets was also experienced by some of these States. In Goa, 227 boats were damaged, however in West Bengal 4353 boats and 18708 nets were damaged, followed by Maharashtra where 1215 boats and 21836 nets were lost.
