Bengaluru :  Revenue Minister Mr R Ashoka accompanied Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa in inspecting the Smart City, Tender sure and Smart City road projects on Friday. Now, it has been announced that theme based Junction Improvements are being taken up in various prominent road junctions in the city. First one being taken up was the Make-in India Lion installed at Windsor Manor junction, which was unveiled on 27.02.2021. The second one was the K.R.Circle which has been recently completed, with the theme of engineering circle-some works of Water fountains and landscaping are about to be completed. Third one, at Nayandahalli junction on Mysore Road being unveiled today, is being taken up on the theme of Mysore Dasara. Others like Anil Kumble circle (On theme of Cricket), Mehkri Circle (As the Welcome insignia) are also being taken up in a phased manner.

Heavy rainfall in Karnataka

Heavy rainfall has been reported from Uttara Kannada, Shivamogga, Kodagu, Belagavi, Haveri, Chikkamagaluru, Dharwad, Hassan and Davanagere districts on Friday, said Revenue Minister Mr R Ashoka who is also the vice-chairman of Karnataka State Disaster Management Authority. Briefing media, “Many areas in Uttara Kannada district have reported more than 300 mm of rainfall in 24 hours of time while Dogri village in Ankola taluk witnessed a record 541 mm of rainfall while many areas in Sirsi taluk reported 400 mm of rainfall.

Mr Ashoka said that 561.42 TMC of water was stored in 13 major reservoirs was 561.42 TMC which was 65 pc of the total storage capacity. During the corresponding time, it was 46 pc. Surprisingly, 42 TMC of water was stored across reservoirs in the last 24 hours.

Due to incessant rainfall in catchment areas in the upstream Maharashtra, most of the rivers are in full spate. As rivers in Krishna basin are receiving heavy inflows from Maharashtra, excess water is being let out into the river. As it is expected that the surge will increase in the next couple of days, there is a flood like situation in the downstream areas. To tackle the flood situation, four NDRF teams have been deployed at Raichur, Kodagu, Belagavi and Dakshina Kannada districts and additional two teams of NDRF have been deployed at Shivamogga and Belagavi districts. A team from Bengaluru has already left for Shivamogga.

Due to landslides, the NH 75 connecting Hassan and Belur has been blocked and vehicles have been alternatively routed via Charmadi ghat. Efforts are being made to send affected people to safer places. Overall, 131 villages in 18 taluks have been affected and 830 houses have been damaged and 8,733 people have been shifted to safer places. 80 relief centres have been set up.

Mr Ashoka also participated in the CM’s video conference with deputy commissioners of Belagavi, Uttara Kannada, Shivamogga, Haveri, Chikkamagaluru and Dharwad districts. Chief Secretary P Ravi Kumar and other senior officials were also present.