AP CM urges Centre to release Rs 1,000cr grant as flood relief

Amaravati: The Andhra Pradesh government on Wednesday has urged the Centre to immediately release ` 1,000 crore as interim grant towards the flood relief and restoration works. Referring to the devastation caused by heavy rains that resulted to an estimated damage of ` 6,054.24crore, Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy wrote an identical letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah, detailing the havoc in the region including Anantapuramu, Kadapa , Chittoor and SPS Nellore districts, between November 1 3 and 20.

The CM asserted: “Despite arranging teams well in advance and all efforts by the government to save lives, forty including a State Disaster Response Force constable died and 25 others were reported missing. As many as 324 relief camps have been arranged , accommodating 69,616 persons in the affected districts while rescue operations are underway.” He said several highways, irrigation tanks and canals remain breached in Kadapa, Chittoor, Anantapuramu and SPS Nellore districts.

“The worst affected were the far mers as crops like paddy, bengal gram, cotton, black gram, groundnut and sugarcane that were ready for harvesting are damaged,” pointed the CM. Agricultural crops spread across 1.42 lakh hectares of land are damaged, amounting ` 1,353.82 crore. Horticultural crops in 42,299 hectares, worth `48.06 crore are also damaged. Roads and irrigation systems were the worst hit, with the deluge causing a loss of ` 1,756.43 crore and ` 556.96 crore respectively, the letter read.

Civic infrastructure like roads, pipelines, drains, school buildings and community centres in municipalities suffered a loss of Rs 1,252 crore. Nearly 2,254.32 km of panchayat raj roads were battered, inflicting a loss of ` 381.65 crore. The infrastructure in place under the Rural Water Supply schemes worth Rs 453.33 crore were also damaged, the CM described and added that hundreds of electricity feeders, substations and distribution lines were also damaged, causing a loss of Rs 252 crore.

“Heavy rains caused inundation of low-lying areas and disrupted normal life. The gravity was such that 17 teams of NDRF and SDRF and two helicopters had to be deployed for undertaking search and rescue operations. In all, 1,402 villages in 196 mandals and four towns were affected,” CM Reddy detailed. The CM then urged the Centre to extend immediate relief while he also requested that an Inter-Ministerial Central Team be sent to the state to assess the damages. -(PTI)