HYDERABAD: The state government on Thursday has initiated the process of assessing the loss and damage caused by heavy rains and floods in districts over the past one week. Teams from revenue, Panchayat Raj, rural development, municipal administration and urban development, revenue and agriculture departments have been formed to make field visits to assess loss of lives, cattle and damage to crops, roads, bridges, houses and other infrastructure. Based on these assessment reports, the state government will submit a report to the Centre seeking financial assistance. According to preliminary estimates , 14 municipalities and 45 gram panchayats were worst affected.
National highways, state highways and gram panchayat roads were damaged and houses collapsed. According to official sources, roads over an extent of 250 kilometres were damaged in municipal areas, 14 municipalities were worst affected by floods, 79 municipalities were inundated. However, officials could drain out flood water in 61 other municipalities. Over 300 houses were damaged and more than 200 trees were uprooted. Roads were badly damaged in two municipalities in Adilabad district and one municipality in Macherial district. Drainage pipelines were damaged over an extent of nearly 50 kms and drinking water pipelines were damaged about 10 kilometres and nearly 100 culverts damaged. Around 109 gram panchayat roads were damaged disrupting traffic movement in 43 villages and causing loss of `133 crore. Another 55 low-lying areas were submerged. As many as 115 houses were totally damaged and 1,130 houses were partially damaged while another 161 houses were submerged under flood water. The national highways were damaged at 37 locations and state highways at 70 locations. The agriculture department has estimated that standing crops over an extent of 10 lakh acres were damaged as per preliminary surveys. The worst affected were cotton, pulses and paddy crops. A high-level committee under the chairmanship of Union Home Minister Amit Shah will examine and approve Central assistance under the National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF) to States affected by floods and natural calamities. When Telangana witnessed heavy rains and flash floods in October 2020, especially in Hyderabad, the state government had sought Rs 1,350 crore immediate relief but the Centre released just Rs 245 crore after three months in January 2021.
