Damage caused houses, crops and public properties due to flood, heavy rain went up three fold in 3 years | India News

NEW DELHI: The estimated damages caused to houses, crops and public properties due to flood and heavy rain increased more than three-fold — from Rs 15,868 crore in 2019 to Rs 46,617 crore in 2021, the housing and urban affairs ministry told the Rajya Sabha on Monday.

It said the computation of losses on account of climate factors has been done based on data reported by states and UTs to the Central Water Commission.
In a written response to a question from Congress MP, Amee Yajnik, on whether cities across the country get flooded during rains, which exposes poor urban planning. Union urban affairs minister Hardeep Singh Puri said urban planning is the function of Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) or urban development authorities, and the central government has only an advisory role in the matter.

The answer mentioned, “Cities do get flooded during monsoon season due to various reasons, such as poor drainage due to silting and clogging of sewerage and drainage system and lack of pre-monsoon preparation; encroachment of water channels and lack of functional Master Plans without clear demarcation of existing drainage features and poor enforcement.”
In response to another question on the government’s policy for urban planning reforms, the ministry said the Centre’s scheme for special assistance to states for capital investment for 2022-23 with an outlay of Rs 6,000 crore and for the current year with an outlay of Rs 15,000 crore was launched by department of expenditure under which component of ‘urban reforms’ are being monitored by urban affairs ministry.
It added that during the special assistance scheme for states for 2022-23 from the total outlay of Rs 6,000 crore, Rs 4,598 crore was recommended by the urban affairs ministry to the finance ministry in respect of 13 participating states. However, Rs 4,093 crore has been released by the finance ministry.