VIJAYAWADA: Apprising the Inter-Ministerial Central Team (IMCT) of the huge loss that the State has suffered due to the unprecedented rains and floods, Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu appealed to the officials to extend assistance to the State generously.
The six-member IMCT, led by Joint Secretary of Union Home Ministry Anil Subrahmanyam, comprised Director of Farmers Welfare of Maharashtra AL Vagmer, Chief Engineer of Surface Transport Rakesh Kumar, Finance Department Consultant RB Koul, Rural Development Deputy Secretary Pradeep Kumar and National Remote Sensing Centre (ISRO) scientist SVSP Sharma. During their two-day visit, the team inspected the flood-affected areas in Krishna, Guntur and Bapatla districts. They met the Chief Minister at the State Secretariat before wrapping up the tour.
Naidu appealed to the Central team to consider the floods in Vijayawada as a calamity that the State has never faced before. “Since the flash floods have completely disrupted the lives of the people, the Centre should be very liberal in extending aid to them,” Naidu told the IMCT members. Besides the loss of life and property, the flood victims experienced severe distress with no drinking water or food to eat, he added.
He urged the Central team to see to it that the Union government comes forward to help the flood victims get back to normal life. Elaborating on the intensity of the rains and floods, he pointed out that the State experienced 50 cm of rainfall in just two days. Stating that the deluge resulted in severe crop loss, the Chief Minister said it is the bounden duty of the government to see to it that necessary assistance is provided to the farmers.
Floods caused large-scale damage to standing crops, says Central team
Unless a good relief package is announced for the victims, they will never be able to recover from the loss, he remarked.
“The problems faced by the flood victims moved us. The Ministers and officials were on duty at the ground-level to instill confidence among the victims. The Collector’s office was turned into the Secretariat with the entire official machinery taking to the ground to carry out relief measures,” Naidu informed the ICMT members.
Briefing Naidu regarding their inspection of the flood-hit areas, the IMCT members said, “We were told that this is the worst-ever calamity that the State has experienced in around 60 years. The people have reposed faith in the State government. The victims are satisfied with the measures being taken to overcome the troubles. They are confident that the State government will certainly render justice to them.” They observed that there was large-scale damage to the standing crops and assured the Chief Minister that they will certainly inform the Central government about the same and do their best to get maximum relief for the State.
Earlier in the day, the IMCT members visited Prakasam Barrage, where the officials of the State government explained to them about the record inflows to the barrage.
They also held a meeting with officials of Guntur district. Collector S Nagalakshmi informed the Central team that financial assistance to the tune of Rs 107.77 crore was required to address the damage caused to crops and infrastructure.
Rs 107-crore aid required for guntur
IMCT members conducted a meeting with officials of Guntur district. District Collector S Nagalakshmi said assistance of Rs 107.77 crore was required for damage caused to crops & infra