VIJAYAWADA: The State government has announced an ex gratia of Rs 5 lakh to the families of the people who died in rains that lashed the coastal areas of the State under the impact of Cyclone Gulab. Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, who took stock of the situation with collectors of the affected districts, announced the ex gratia amount to the families of the deceased and wanted officials to take up relief and rehabilitation works. “Do not hesitate to extend any kind of possible support to the affected,’’ he instructed the officials.
Jagan asked the officials to provide quality food, medical facilities and protected drinking water to those who were shifted to relief centres. “Open rehabilitation centres wherever there is a need,’’ he instructed the officials and asked the latter to pump out water from the low-lying areas in Visakhapatnam and set up medical camps in the affected areas. He wanted the officials to provide all possible support to those whose houses were submerged in the rainwater.
Jagan wanted the officials to provide financial assistance of Rs 1,000 to the families while they move from rehabilitation centres to their residences after the situation normalises. Supply drinking water through tankers as there is a possibility of contamination of water, and run drinking water schemes with the help of generators, the officials were told.
Asking the official to enumerate crop loss at the earliest, Jagan warned that there is a possibility of flash floods as the neighbouring Odisha is also experiencing heavy rains, and asked the officials to alert the people in the villages abutting Vamsadhara and Nagavali rivers. Luckily, Gulab did not have the intensity of HudHud and Titli, he observed.
Chief Secretary Aditya Nath Das said winds of 80-90 km velocity were experienced only at some places and there were incidents of tree felling at some places. There was no damage to the state or national highways, the CS said and added rescue works were intensified in Vizag city.