Over 2 lakh people have been evacuated from various flood affected areas of Maharashtra and provided with relief and temporary shelter, state Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh said on Saturday.
"The whole government machinery has been geared up and officials are working round-the-clock to rescue and provide relief to the affected people in this unforeseen, unprecedented and unexpected rains and flood in the state," Deshmukh said while speaking at a function organised by the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent in Mumbai.
The union health ministry has sent huge consignments of medicines for the people of the state, he said. Deshmukh, however, said he was receiving little help from other states even though Maharashtra had always been in the forefront to provide relief to other states during calamities like the Orissa cyclone, Pondicherry tsunami and the Gujarat earthquake.
"Although there was a good co-ordination between Maharashtra and the Centre, with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh already providing Rs 1000 crore and foodgrains worth Rs 200 crore to the state, there seems to be very little or no help coming from other states", he said.
The chief minister, who was slammed from various quarters for the government's 'inefficiency' to provide timely relief after the floods handicapped normal life in many parts of the state, said, "I received a lot of criticism and less of appreciation. People have the right to criticise and I am prepared to accept. The process of soul searching is on and I am still learning."
"There are shortcomings, government has always been a soft target, but let us not forget the contributions of the municipal corporation, police force, fire brigade, non governmental organisations and others, who have been tirelessly working to bring back normalcy to the city and the state," he added.