HYDERABAD: Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy informed the Inter-Ministerial Central Team (IMCT) that visited the flood-affected areas in Telangana over the past two days that the total loss the state suffered due to the recent rains and floods was Rs 10,320.72 crore as of September 8, 2024.
At a meeting with members of the IMCT at the Secretariat on Friday, the chief minister once again requested the Centre to provide immediate relief to the state to help the people who suffered losses.
He reiterated his earlier demand that the Centre should relax the existing norms and release disaster response funds to the state without conditions.
“With the existing guidelines, the Telangana government cannot utilise the available Rs 1,350 crore National Disaster Response Funds even if the entire state is submerged under flood waters. As per the present rules, the state is eligible to use only Rs 1lakh if a patch of 1 km road is damaged due to floods. This paltry amount is not sufficient for even temporary repairs to damaged roads,” the chief minister explained. He said that apart from submitting the details of losses, the state government would also furnish details of the standard schedule of rates (SSR) to the Centre. “This would allow the Centre to examine the SSR, revise the guidelines and extend liberal relief to the state,” Revanth said.
Stating that the total losses as of September 8 were over Rs 10,000 crore, he told the IMCT that details of more damage were yet to be received.
CM asks Centre to fund retaining wall in Khammam
The CM said that thousands of houses and crops over lakhs of acres were affected while culverts, roads and tanks were damaged at several places.
Stating that a retaining wall was the only solution to prevent submergence under Munneru in Khammam, the chief minister requested the Centre to sanction funds for constructing the retaining wall. “The state government will also release part of the funds required for the retaining wall,” Revanth said.
Stating that the state government was planning to construct houses for the residents of Rakasi tanda and Satyanarayana tanda, he requested the Centre to release the funds for the proposed housing scheme.
The chief minister also requested the Centre to give advance alerts on natural calamities so that the state government could take preventive measures and avoid losses. He informed the IMCT that he was planning to utilise the services of police battalions in various districts during natural calamities. Around 100 personnel would be trained in each battalion, the CM said, seeking the cooperation of the NDRF for the purpose.
Send teams to Medaram: CM
The chief minister also urged the Centre to send special teams to Medaram forest, where a large number of trees were uprooted recently.
The IMCT, led by Col KP Singh, had visited several flood-affected areas in Khammam, Mahabubabad and Suryapet districts and met the chief minister before leaving for Delhi.
