The death toll in rain-related incidents in Maharashtra have risen to 192 after the recovery of 28 more bodies, most of them in Raigad. Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar toured flood-hit villages in Sangli district and said a decision on providing financial relief will be taken in a couple of days.
As many as 48 persons were injured in these incidents and 25 still missing, while so far, 2,29,074 persons have been evacuated from the flood and rain-affected areas and moved to safer places, the government said in a statement in Mumbai.
Giving the district-wise break up of fatalities in heavy rains and floods since last week, the official statement said Raigad has reported 95 deaths, Satara 45, Ratnagiri 21, Thane 12, Kolhapur 7, Sindhudurg, Akola, Pune and Wardha 2 each, and Mumbai 4 (total 192). The administration of Raigad, the worst-hit district located in the coastal Konkan region, earlier on Monday called off the search operations for 31 missing people in Taliye village which was ravaged by a massive landslide after heavy rains last week, Collector Nidhi Chaudhari said.
The village, located in Mahad taluka of Raigad, witnessed the deadly landslide last Thursday after heavy rains, flattening several houses in the area. The collector said the decision to call of the search operations was taken after seeking opinion of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and the disaster response forces of the state and neighbouring Thane district.
"The rescue operations have ended officially. We have withdrawn our teams from Taliye. The 31 missing will be declared dead following the due process...relatives of the missing people demanded closure of the operations since yesterday," the collector said earlier in the day.
Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray visited the village on Saturday and said as landslides proved fatal in many parts of the state, the government would come up with a plan to permanently relocate people living in hilly areas.
A decision on providing relief to the people affected by floods will be taken in the next couple of days, Deputy CM Ajit Pawar said after he toured various rain-hit villages in Sangli district and used a rescue boat to reach out to victims in some areas on Monday. He interacted with the flood-affected people and assured them of rehabilitation and help from the state government.
"The Maha Vikas Aghadi government will provide all possible help to those who have been affected by floods. I, cabinet ministers Jayant Patil, Vijay Wadettiwar, and minister of state Vishwajeet Kadam visited the flood-affected areas in the Sangli district and took stock of the situation.
"In the next two days, a final decision about (the relief) will be taken in the presence of Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray," Pawar, who also holds the Finance portfolio, told a press conference.
Water Resources Minister Jayant Patil, Relief and Rehabilitation Minister Vijay Wadettiwar and Minister of State Vishwajeet Kadam accompanied Pawar during his visit to the flood-battered Bhilwadi and other areas of the district. They used a boat to reach out to people affected by the monsoon mayhem in Bhilwadi.
Pawar later told reporters that "unprecedented" rains triggered floods in districts in Western Maharashtra.
"When heavy rains started after July 22, there was enough storage capacity in dams in the Krishna river basin but heavy downpour in the pre-catchment areas of dams caused floods downstream," he said.Pawar described the pre-catchment area of the dam as the area ahead of the dam's wall. He added that since its construction, the Koyna dam never received such a huge influx of water.