Central team inspects flood-affected areas in NTR district, promises full support to AP
12 Sep 2024 5:12 PM GMT
Central team inspect the situation at Prakasam Barrage in Vijayawada on Thursday. — C. NARAYANA RAO
Vijayawada: The central team that did an on-the-spot assessment of the flood havoc in Andhra Pradesh has promised substantial support to the affected people, mainly farmers who suffered losses.
“Do not lose courage,” the joint secretary to home affairs Anil Subrahmanyam, who led the team advised the affected people on Thursday, at the close of their two-day tour of the affected areas.
The team would submit a comprehensive report on the damage and loss the people suffered in Vijayawada and elsewhere.
The members of the central team included chief engineer Rakesh Kumar from the roads and highways ministry as also scientist of ISRO and National Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC) SVSP Sharma.
The team visited several of the Budameru flood-affected areas in the NTR district.
After gathering details about losses from officials at a session in the district collectorate, the central team visited Prakasam Barrage and inspected areas where boats had collided with barrage gates. The members reviewed the ongoing work for removing the three boats from the barrage.
Special officer M Venkateswara Rao and district collector Srijana explained to the team about the flood conditions affecting Prakasam Barrage.
The team inspected the Budameru Diversion Channel (BDC), examined the damaged areas and took stock of the repair works there.
The members discussed with water resources minister Nimmala Ramanaidu, local MLA Vasantha Krishna Prasad and former minister Umamaheswara Rao on the progress of strengthening the embankments' work.
Later, in Ibrahimpatnam mandal's Eelaprolu village, they assessed the damage caused to paddy crops due to floods over 643 acres in a discussion with agriculture department officials.
In a visit to the Jakkampudi village, they interacted with the flood-affected residents.
Collector Srijana explained to the team the following points: Nearly 26cm of rainfall was recorded within a span of 24 hours; over 11 lakh cusecs of water flowed into Prakasam Barrage; sudden inflow of about 40,000 cusecs from Budameru inundated half (32 out of 64) of VMC wards; and that some urbanised Ibrahimpatnam and G Konduru mandals were also affected by floods.
She explained that the damage was worth `730 crore for irrigation assets. “The process for assessing damages is ongoing. However, preliminary estimates show losses to various crops like black gram cotton green gram, maize, rice etc affected around 49,000 farmers covering an area of 42,000 hectares. This would require an input subsidy of `69 crore, she said.
The collector said sand deposition and soil erosion also contributed to the losses in the horticulture sector and that a sum of Rs 36 crore was required for the Budameru breach repairs.
The team would submit a comprehensive report on the damage and loss the people suffered in Vijayawada and elsewhere.
The members of the central team included chief engineer Rakesh Kumar from the roads and highways ministry as also scientist of ISRO and National Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC) SVSP Sharma.
The team visited several of the Budameru flood-affected areas in the NTR district.
After gathering details about losses from officials at a session in the district collectorate, the central team visited Prakasam Barrage and inspected areas where boats had collided with barrage gates. The members reviewed the ongoing work for removing the three boats from the barrage.
Special officer M Venkateswara Rao and district collector Srijana explained to the team about the flood conditions affecting Prakasam Barrage.
The team inspected the Budameru Diversion Channel (BDC), examined the damaged areas and took stock of the repair works there.
The members discussed with water resources minister Nimmala Ramanaidu, local MLA Vasantha Krishna Prasad and former minister Umamaheswara Rao on the progress of strengthening the embankments' work.
Later, in Ibrahimpatnam mandal's Eelaprolu village, they assessed the damage caused to paddy crops due to floods over 643 acres in a discussion with agriculture department officials.
In a visit to the Jakkampudi village, they interacted with the flood-affected residents.
Collector Srijana explained to the team the following points: Nearly 26cm of rainfall was recorded within a span of 24 hours; over 11 lakh cusecs of water flowed into Prakasam Barrage; sudden inflow of about 40,000 cusecs from Budameru inundated half (32 out of 64) of VMC wards; and that some urbanised Ibrahimpatnam and G Konduru mandals were also affected by floods.
She explained that the damage was worth `730 crore for irrigation assets. “The process for assessing damages is ongoing. However, preliminary estimates show losses to various crops like black gram cotton green gram, maize, rice etc affected around 49,000 farmers covering an area of 42,000 hectares. This would require an input subsidy of `69 crore, she said.
The collector said sand deposition and soil erosion also contributed to the losses in the horticulture sector and that a sum of Rs 36 crore was required for the Budameru breach repairs.
( Source : Deccan Chronicle )
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