Mangaluru : The Revenue Minister R. Ashok visited some houses damaged in the recent mild tremors in Sullia taluk in Dakshina Kannada bordering Kodagu district. He also visited Batpady in Ullal that is witnessing heavy sea erosion.

Speaking on the occasion, the minister said that since series of earthquakes reported on the border areas of Kodagu and Dakshina Kannada were of low frequency, people need not panic.

Revenue Minister R. Ashok, who is also the Vice-Chairman of Karnataka State Disaster Management Authority, said here on Thursday that the government will issue an order for granting Rs.5 lakh as compensation to those families whose houses are fully damaged in rains, floods and other natural calamities. The houses which suffer 50% damage will be given Rs.3 lakh as compensation, he said.

The Minister said that owners of partially damaged houses will be given Rs. 50,000 and if rainwater floods houses its owners will be granted Rs. 10,000 as compensation.

The Minister said that of Rs. 5 lakh, the district administrations should give Rs.1 lakh compensation to fully damaged houses within three days of the damage. The Rs.50,000 and Rs.10,000 compensations should be given at a time and not in installments, he said.

He asked officials not to delay in releasing compensation by giving lame excuses.

Minister in-charge of Dakshina Kannada V. Sunil Kumar, MLAs D. Vedavyas Kamath, Rajesh Naik U., Y. Bharat Shetty, Harish Poonja, U.T. Khader, and MLC Prathap Simha Nayak were present.