AP CM Asks Officials to Take Up Restoration Works

Vijayawada: Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu has directed the officials to undertake relief and restoration works on a war-footing following the heavy rains and floods in Andhra Pradesh. He sought power boats from the Centre to boost rescue and relief efforts.

Naidu announced a holiday to schools and colleges on Sept. 2, Monday, and hoped the rains would subside soon.

The chief minister visited the office of the AP Disaster Management Authority here on Monday and reviewed the impact of the rainfall and floods with ministers and senior officials. He permitted use of drones and CC cameras to keep track of the flood situations in real time.

They must assess the crop loss/ damage once the flood situation returns to normal so that the report could be sent to the Centre for financial support with a sense of urgency. He promised relief to the flood-hit farmers. He sought enumeration of damages to the houses and loss of livestock, to provide relief to the affected persons.

Chief secretary Neerabh Prasad explained the impact of the depression and the heavy rainfall on the state.

The CM inquired about the flood situation at the lower side of Prakasam barrage and also the areas along the Budameru stream. The number of deaths, if any, must be to the minimum this time, he said.

The officials said all the reservoirs were filled to capacity, and they released the water from them. Huge amounts of water were being released from the Srisailam project, resulting in Nagarjuna Sagar and Pulichintala projects getting water to the brim.

With regard to Prakasam barrage, officials said they were taking steps to strengthen the weak bunds in case the water discharge was recorded at 10-10.5 lakh cusecs.

Some 107 relief camps were set up and 17,000 persons evacuated to these. Eight motorised boats and two choppers were pressed into service for relief operations. Some 25kg of rice, one kg of dal, one kg of sugar, one kg onions, one kg potato and one kg oil would be given to each of the affected people/families. Weavers and fishermen would get an extra 25kg of rice.

The chief minister called Union home minister Amit Shah and explained about the rains and flood situation in AP. He sought power boats of NDRF for the flood relief efforts. Shah promised Naidu that all the possible help would be provided to AP.

The CM also spoke to the Union home secretary for arranging the power boats. The home secretary said six NDRF teams were being sent to AP with each team having 25 personnel. In total, 40 power boats and six hoppers would be sent to AP on Tuesday, to take part in the relief operations, he said.