CM Jagan announces Rs 5 lakh to kin of Cyclone Gulab victims

Vijayawada: Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy announced an ex-gratia of Rs 5 lakh to family members of those killed in Cycole Gulab and instructed authorities to restore power on a war-footing.

He advised officials to evolve a humanitarian approach while going about rescue, relief and rehabilitation measures in the affected areas and ensure quality food and medicare in all relief camps.

He was addressing a video conference with district collectors and other officials while taking stock of the impact of the cyclone.

Later, at a meeting in his camp office here, Reddy called for restoration of power as soon as rains subside and asked officials to monitor the situation every 30 minutes. He said that Rs 1,000 should be given to each family when they are returning home from relief camps.

He wanted officials to be empathetic towards people in all cyclone-affected areas. He instructed officials to set up more relief camps in all required places and medical camps in flood-prone areas besides supplying clean drinking water through tankers as water sources could have been contaminated due to rains.  He asked officials to clear water from inundated areas in Visakhapatnam using a pumping system.

The Chief Minister wanted a generous enumeration of crop damage and immediate relief to farmers. He asked the administration to be on high alert as Odisha was also experiencing heavy rains, which could lead to flash floods. He wanted relocation of those residing in the riverside areas of Vamsadhara and Nagavali and periodical monitoring of water levels in reservoirs.

Meanwhile, chief secretary Adityanath Das, who is monitoring the situation from Visakhapatnam, explained that in some areas the winds were blowing at a speed of 80-90 km/hr. Trees were uprooted in some places but were cleared immediately, and highways are clear without any traffic.

Ministers Botsa Satyanarayan and Muttamsetti Srinivas, disaster management commissioner Kannababu, deputy chief minister Dharmana Krishnadas and collectors and officers from Srikakulam, Vizianagaram, Visakhapatnam, East Godavari, West Godavari, Krishna and Guntur districts participated in the video conference.

The review meeting was attended by Principal Secretary, MAUD, Y Srilakshmi, and secretaries from various departments, including V Usharani, Gopalakrishna Dwivedi, M.T. Krishna Babu, Anil Kumar Singhal, Nagulapalli Srikanth, and commissioners Girija Shankar and Kona Sasidhar.