Amaravati: Central team lauds quick action by district officials

Amaravati: The Central team constituted to gauge the extent of flood damage in the state met Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy at his camp office on Monday and lauded the efforts of the state government in flood-hit areas in providing relief to the affected population. The Central team is comprised of Kunal Satyarthi, Abhey Kumar, Dr K Manoharan, Srinivasu Bairy, Shivani, Shravan Kumar Singh and Anil Kumar Singh.

National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) advisor Kunal Satyarthi appreciated the efforts of officials in taking up flood relief works. He said that it was not a classical flood situation and the system was not ready to receive so much water and there were no adequate reservoirs and dams to regulate the water, he said, adding that the existing dams were not designed for such huge inflows. He said the extent of damage is large at the location of breach of Annamayya project, some parts of Chittoor and Nellore districts. Infrastructure and agriculture loss is more in Kadapa district and floods damaged bengal gram crop and water projects badly.

Drinking water supply system of Annamayya project has suffered severe damage, bridges and roads were damaged resulting in cut off of some villages from outside world. Satyarthi said the emergency services were restored immediately and district collectors had released funds without delay due to which the works were expedited.

He noted that 40 per cent of damage was to roads, buildings, 32 per cent to agriculture and allied sectors, and 16 per cent to irrigation and assured all sorts of possible help. Hinting at climatic change, Satyarthi said that semi-arid region of Rayalaseema received more rainfall than coastal region.

The Chief Minister urged the Central team to be more compassionate and humanitarian in assessing the damage. He said there is no escalation in the estimates and added that there was a robust model at the grass root level for estimation of flood losses.

He said Rythu Bharosa Kendras (RBKs) are present in every village, e-cropping is completed for every crop, social audit is also done and physical and digital receipts for e-cropping were given to every farmer and added that the damage is estimated at village level.

Stating that State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF) sources had been spent on Covid containment measures, the Chief Minister urged the Central team for replenishment of ad hoc funds to SDRF. He said the suggestions of the Central team will be considered and necessary measures will be taken to control such disasters in the long run.

He said the state government is improving canal system to discharge more water capacity and added that automatic water gauging system is being planned. Seeking relaxation of rules on paddy procurement, he said relief should be given in terms of moisture and other conditions as crops are damaged due to heavy rains.