Rains damage 1.17L acres of crops in Anantapur district

Anantapur: District in-charge Minister Bocha Sathyanarayana has revealed that 61 mandals in the district were adversely affected by the recent rains while there was heavy influx of water in 15 villages and 4 towns dislocating normal life.

Crops in an extent of 1.17 lakh acres including 1,500 acres of horticulture crops were affected. Agriculture officers have been asked to present a report on the crop damages by December 6. Addressing a review meeting at the Revenue Bhavan here on Saturday, Botcha said that 7 persons in the floods and 6 families of the deceased were already given compensation by the government.

As many as 2,298 families were rescued from floods and sent to safety by the state and central disaster management team. 15 relief camps are in place for the homeless and 19 health camps had been organised to treat those in the rescue operation. 262.45 metric tonnes of rice was distributed to the flood victims and 22,594 food packets were distributed. Besides, 4,014 families were given a financial assistance of Rs 2,000 each. The housing authorities identified 159 damaged houses, out of which 67 houses are pucca buildings and 92 tinned roof houses while partially damaged houses are 2,153 houses.

The district in-charge minister said Rs 215 crore worth flood damages has been estimated. Also 231 km of roads had been damaged by the floods. He said 10 persons were rescued in the floods by the government machinery by chartering a helicopter for the rescue mission. Botcha said that the government was supplying seeds to farmers at 80 per cent subsidy. Hindupur MP Gorantla Madhav, R&B Minister M Sankara Narayana, MLA Anantha Reddy, Collector Nagalakshmi and SP Fakirappa participated in the meeting.