BRS Slams Govt on Floods, Says CM Failed in Preventing Loss of Lives

Hyderabad: The BRS on Monday slammed the Congress government for ignoring warning signs regarding the impending heavy rain and not doing enough to provide relief to the flood-affected, and demanded that Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy increase the ex gratia to the families of those killed from Rs 5 lakh to Rs 25 lakh.

BRS working president K.T. Rama Rao said Revanth Reddy, before becoming Chief Minister, had said that the families of flood victims must get Rs 25 lakh as ex gratia. Revanth Reddy, he said, must also keep his promise of providing between Rs 2.5 lakh and Rs 5 lakh to those whose homes have been affected.

“There is loss of life and this is clearly a result of an inefficient government that did not have any plans to tackle the floods and save lives,” Rama Rao said.

Former minister G. Jagadish Reddy said the Chief Minister could not even arrange for helicopters to deliver food and water to the flood-affected and rescue people.

Senior BRS leader T. Harish Rao claimed that the government might be hiding the death toll. “The government says 16 people lost their lives but our information is that 31 died as a result of the rain and floods,” He said. “People gave the Congress nine seats in Khammam and the Congress government failed to save the nine who lost their lives in that district,” Harish Rao told reporters in Chegunta.