Rehabilitation of Goa flood victims to start soon

As the flood affected people of Goa's Canacona taluka come to terms with the calamity, state government today said the rehabilitation process will start within a fortnight. "The first priority is to get the people out of trauma. Some families have lost almost everything," chief secretary Sanjay Srivastava said.

He said the state has mobilised resources for the rehabilitation process which will begin within a fortnight. Goa has been sanctioned Rs five crore from the central kitty after chief minister Digamber Kamat met prime minister Manmohan Singh on Tuesday in Delhi.

"Adequate funds would be made available to the agencies involved in rehabilitation and it should not be a problem as we are drawing money from Calamity Relief fund (CRF)," he
said. The worst-ever floods in Canacona had destroyed 250 houses and damaged 400 others last weekend, rendering hundreds of people homeless.

Srivastava said the state authorities are conducting damage assessment which would be sent to the centre to seek more funds. "Our assessment will get over within the next two days and after that a Central team will arrive here to cross check the damage evaluation," he added.