Officials clean flood-hit mandals before CM Jagan's visit

KAKINADA: Officials in Kunavaram mandal of Alluri Sitharama Raju district and Kukunur in Eluru district hurriedly engaged in a cleaning exercise in anticipation of Chief Minister Jagan Reddy’s visit to the flood-hit areas.

The CM would visit the affected areas in Godavari in Kunavaram in ASR district and Kukunur on Monday.

The official machinery was pressed into service to clean Kunavaram and Kothulagutta villages, which remained muddy with flood waters. It spread bleaching powder and cleaned the roads and the bus stands. The officials also took special care to attend to the problems of the flood victims.

Some of the flood victims were given rs 2,000 and some only rs 1,000 while they returned to their homes. The officials distributed rs 2,000 to each affected family apart from 25kg rice.  The victims expressed their happiness over these assistance to them.

However, the villagers in merged mandals urged the chief minister to settle their R&R packages and house compensation and send them to R&R colonies without further delay. “We don’t want rice, potatoes, onions or other vegetables. We are not able to bear the floods again and again,” they said.

Telugu Desam leader Bhaskara Rao said some such families have been given a compensation of'6.38 lakh. But the amount sufficed only to engage their transport during the floods. “Whenever floods come to Godavari, the victims have to reach hillocks or safer places. Later they have to return to their villages by spending huge sums. The government should provide transport expenses to the victims,” he proposed.

The flood victims appealed to Jagan to include all the villages in the six merged mandals into 41.15 contour and provide the R&R package and settle it as early as possible.

Eluru collector V Presanna Venkatesh, along with the DSP Mary Prashanthi, joint collector Lavanya Veni and sub-collector Adarsh Rajendran visited the places the CM would tour in Kukunuru mandal and inspected the helipad and other arrangements at Gommugudem. The CM would reach Kukunuru from Kunavaram by 1.05pm and spend time up to 3.30pm.

ASR collector Sumit Gandhi along with his team visited Kunavaram and Kothulagutta areas where the CM would meet flood-victims, and inspected the arrangements.