Central teams asses damage due to floods in Telangana, Andhra Pradesh

Hyderabad: Two inter-ministerial central teams have been touring both the Telugu states of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh to assess the damage caused by the recent flash floods. While Telangana pegged the initial damages to the tune of Rs 5,438 crore, Andhra Pradesh put the figure at Rs 6,880 crore. Both the states said the loss estimates may go up, and those were only the initial and preliminary assessments.

The team members visited Guntur, Bapatla, and Krishna districts in Andhra Pradesh on Wednesday, which suffered heavy damage due to the flash floods. On Thursday, the team visited Prakasam barrage in Vijayawada and other areas. The team to Telangana visited Khammam and Mahbubabad that had witnessed flooding due to the overflowing of the Munneru Vagu river.

The teams' visit to the states will continue for another two days. The central team to Andhra Pradesh is headed by the Joint Secretary of the Union Home Ministry Anil Subrahmanyam. The six-member central team to Telangana is led by NDMA advisor, Col K P Singh.

Telangana Chief Secretary Santhi Kumari briefed the visiting central team about the extensive damage caused in most parts of the state due to the unprecedented rainfall that occurred between August 31 and September 3. She informed that even though the weather alert was received at a very short notice, the administration was on high alert and swift action was taken by the state government which has resulted in a curbing of the loss of human lives.

The Telangana Chief Secretary appealed to the central team to make the guidelines liberal so as to enable the state government to provide relief extensively. She also informed that the Chief Minister has ordered to form specialised teams on par with NDRF to participate in rescue operations in emergency situations in the state. She sought the support of the NDMA in training and other logistics support for the specialised teams.

She also flagged the issue of air rescue operations during heavy rains which is becoming a major challenge for the administration and sought the cooperation of the Centre in addressing this challenge. Special Chief Secretary of Disaster Management, Arvind Kumar, gave a brief overview of the damage caused and measures initiated by the state government to provide immediate relief to the people who are in distress. He informed that the initial estimate of the damages was pegged at Rs 5,438 crores, but the actual assessment is still going on.

In Andhra Pradesh, the Engineer-in-Chief of the Water Resources Department, K Venkatesweara Rao, explained in detail to the team members about the massive damage caused due to the heavy floods that lashed various parts of the state.

The Special Chief Secretary of the Revenue and Disaster Management, R P Sisodia, through a power-point presentation, explained to them the seriousness of the damages caused to various sectors, which is estimated at about Rs 6,880 crores preliminarily. The damages caused in sectors like farming, horticulture, animal husbandry, fishing, roads & buildings, irrigation and others across various municipalities, were explained in detail by the officials to the central team.

They also explained in detail how food and other essentials were supplied to the victims through drones and other methods. Headed by Anil Subrahmanyam, the six-member central team consists of the Director of Farmers Welfare of Maharashtra, Dr A L Vagmer, the Chief Engineer of the Surface Transport, Mr Rakesh Kumar and Financial Wing Consultant, Mr R B Koul, among others.