The Maharashtra government will send a permanent memorandum to the Centre elaborating the long-term steps that need to be taken in the state to combat natural calamities, Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh said on Wednesday.

He said the memorandum would be sent within a fortnight. Deshmukh, who visited the landslide-hit Jui, Kondiwate and Dasgaon villages of neighbouring  Raigad district, announced a series of relief measures for the affected regions of the district and some corrective measures to avoid such incidents in the future.

Terrible Tuesday: Mumbai copes with a calamity

The Chief Minister announced a hike in doles from the present Rs 1000 per family to Rs 5000 as immediate relief for the flood affected regions, apart from the compensation of Rs 1 lakh per person to families that lost members in the recent floods.

Deshmukh told reporters that temporary sheds would be constructed to house families that had lost their homes in the landslides.

The state would also ensure permanent rehabilitation of the affected families on the lines of the rehabilitation for people affected by the earthquake, he said.

For that purpose, an agency like the Maharashtra Housing & Area Development Authority will be assigned the job and if needed, the government may also acquire land for this purpose, Deshmukh said.

Deshmukh, who was joined by state ministers Sunil Tatakare (Raigad) and Babanrao Pachpute (Ratnagiri), said so far, Rs 13.82 crore had been distributed as relief in the Raigad district.

According to him, residents of nearly 15 villages in the district who stayed close to the hills and who were susceptible to landslides had been shifted to safer places. A long-term policy for their rehabilitation would also be chalked out, he added.

Earlier, a delegation of traders met Deshmukh and demanded that loans be restructured in the wake of the natural calamity.

Deshmukh told reporters that the insurance companies had been directed to provide interim relief on the basis of the `panchnama' prepared by the state machinery.

Terrible Tuesday: Mumbai copes with a calamity
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