Flood Loss Put at Rs 4,600 crore, Telangana Submits Report to Centre

Hyderabad: The state government has submitted a report to the Centre putting the loss on account of the recent floods and heavy rains in several districts at Rs 4,600 crore. The report was submitted to the central team, which was on a three-day tour of the state, to assess the damage caused by floods.

A senior official in the state disaster management department told Deccan Chronicle that the damages pertain to roads of panchayat raj and R&B departments; electricity department's poles, transformers and substations; irrigation projects and major and minor irrigation tanks.

He said the central team may undertake a second visit after going through the government’s report before submitting its final report to the centre.

Meanwhile, the Congress and the BJP slammed the state government in the Legislative Assembly on the issue of flood management when the House took up the debate on impact of the recent heavy rains and floods.

AIMIM took strong exception to the government’s failure to table a comprehensive report on the impact of floods.

Congress member D. Sridhar Babu accused the state government of building inferior quality check dams that had breached and led to flooding of villages and towns. This led to heated arguments between him and ministers Vemula Prashanth Reddy and T. Harish Rao, who refuted the allegations.

At one point, the debate deviated towards free power to agriculture and Dharani issues, which led to heated arguments between minister K.T. Rama Rao and Sridhar Babu. Rama Rao demanded that the Congress apologise to farmers for the comments made by TPCC chief A. Revanth Reddy that only three-hour free power was enough for them.

Harish Rao took potshots at the Congress for promising to abolish the Dharani portal if they were voted to power.  "Dharani reduced corruption and ensured transparency in land transactions. The Congress wants to bring back corruption by abolishing Dharani," Harish Rao alleged.

AIMIM floor leader Akbaruddin Owaisi found fault with the government for releasing a meagre Rs 500 crore for flood relief measures when the losses were estimated to be Rs 6,000 crore. He said that Rs 250 crore aid for flood relief measures under GHMC limits was insufficient and it had to be duly enhanced.
BJP member M. Raghunandan Rao sought compensation to farmers for the crop losses they had suffered. He demanded the state government to implement the PM Fasal Bima Yojana to save farmers from losses on account of natural calamities.