VIJAYAWADA: Chief Secretary KS Jawahar Reddy directed the district collectors to expedite the enumeration of damages and losses sustained due to severe cyclone Michaung and at the same time initiate measures to restore normalcy on war footing basis.
Taking stock of the situation in the aftermath of cyclone with District Collectors and other officials in a virtual meeting on Thursday, the chief secretary said after enumeration of crop losses is done by agriculture and horticulture departments, a letter will be written to the Centre requesting for central team to visit the state for assessment of the damage and losses due to cyclone.
The Chief Secretary said as per the preliminary estimations, paddy in 1,45,795 hectares, horticulture crops in 31,498 hectares were damaged. Accurate figure will emerge after enumeration is completed and based on the report input subsidy will be extended.
Special Chief Secretary (Revenue) and CCLA G Sai Prasad said 9,321 cyclone affected families, which were shifted to relief centres were provided with Rs 2,500 each, and 1,162 individuals were provided with Rs 1,000 each as a immediate relief. “A total Rs 2.5 crore was given as relief. As many as 1.01 lakh families were affected due to the cyclone and of them 65,256 were provided with 25 kg of rice, 1kg red gram, 1 kg onions and 1kg potatoes,” he explained.
Special Chief Secretary (energy) K Vijayanand said 33 KV feeders (210) in nine districts, 11 KV feeders (1,581), 33/11 KV feeders (353), 33 KV poles (379), 11 KV poles (1,592), LT poles (2,481) were damaged and are being revived on war footing. “As many as 3,292 village suffered power disruption and at present, power has been restored to 3,111 villages and shortly power will be restored to the remaining 181 villages,” he said.
Special Chief Secretary (panchayat raj) B Rajasekhar said 93.8 km length of 55 roads were damaged due to the cyclone and restoration works have been taken up. While R&B secretary Pradyumna said 2,816 km of R&B roads were damaged, CDMA Koteswara Rao said 56.7 km of roads in 14 urban local bodies and 2,770 street lights were damaged.
Farmers assured of all possible help
Special Commissioner for Agriculture C Hari Kiran said the department is extending advisory to farmers how to protect the existing crops. He said agriculture assistants and field level officials through RBKs are available to the farmers to assist them in every manner