Hyderabad rains: K Chandrasekhar Rao announces Rs 550 crore flood relief package

HYDERABAD: Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao on Monday announced a financial package of Rs 550 crore to provide immediate relief to people residing in flood-affected areas of the GHMC and surrounding municipalities.

The government will pay Rs 10,000 to each affected poor family in the low-lying areas. An ex gratia of Rs 1 lakh has been announced for each house which has been fully damaged by the rains and floods, and Rs 50,000 for each partially-damaged house.

Announcing this, the Chief Minister said, “Hyderabad has experienced its heaviest rains in 100 years. People, especially the poor who live in slums in low-lying areas, have suffered a lot because of the rains and flash floods. It is the primary responsibility of the government to help them.”

The CM instructed the officials to repair and restore all the roads and other infrastructure facilities on a war-footing and ensure that life returns to normalcy at the earliest.

He directed the Hyderabad, Ranga Reddy, and Medchal-Malkajgiri collectors to dispatch teams to the field to start distributing amounts to the poor from Tuesday morning.

He instructed Chief Secretary Somesh Kumar to monitor the financial assistance distribution programme by setting up 200 to 250 teams.

He asked all ministers, MLAs, corporators, the Mayor and Deputy Mayor in Hyderabad to help the poor as their responsibility and actively participate in the programme.

He said “the financial support to the flood-affected should be provided till every affected family is covered. People should also come forward and register their names with the authorities for getting the financial assistance.”