GUNTUR: The floods in River Krishna have damaged a majority of the horticulture croplands in the tail-end villages of Kolluru, Duggirala, Kollipara, Bhattiprolu and Repalle mandals in Guntur, as estimated by the district officials. Damage to 6,616.90 hectares of horticulture crops and 5,406 hectares of other crops was estimated. Collector I Samuel Anand Kumar held a review meeting with the Agriculture, Horticulture, Sericulture, Fisheries, R&B, Panchayat Raj and other department officers on Tuesday night, in which he reviewed the preliminary data.
Anand Kumar directed the officers to estimate the accurate damages to crops, power and road infrastructure, among other basic amenities, and submit the same to him within three days. He also instructed the civil supplies officials to distribute 25 kg rice, one kg yellow gram, cooking oil, one kg onion and one kg potato each to 13,000 affected families in the flood-hit Guntur district.
In the report by the district officials, damage to 4,454 hectares of cotton, 137 hectares of paddy, 1,650 hectares of banana, 70 hectares of sugarcane, 541 hectares of maize and four hectares of black gram fields was estimated.
Further, horticulture crops such as chilly on 124 hectare, papaya on 73.40 hectare, lime on 44.6 hectare, mango on 20 hectare, coconut on 10 hectare, guava on 68 hectare, turmeric on 2,429 hectare, yam on 1,508 hectare, vegetables and other crops on 532 hectare were reported to have suffered damage in the district.
Lineman goes missing, feared drowned
Vijayawada: A 35-year-old man was feared drowned in River Krishna after he did not return home from Prakasam Barrage on Tuesday. According to Satyanarayanapuram police, the missing man was identified as Bugatha Viswanath, a lineman who worked for a local cable operator. His family filed a missing complaint at Satyanarayanapuram police station after he did not return home from the barrage. He went there around 8 pm on Tuesday. “When the family members tried to contact him over the phone, he was unavailable and hence they filed a missing complaint. Based on the call history, we are trying to trace him,” Inspector Bala Murali Krishna said. Viswanath is married and has two school-going children