Hyderabad, October 12: Rehabilitating the families of one lakh flood victims in Kurnool, Mahaboobnagar, Krishna, Guntur and Nalgonda districts is going to be a gigantic task for the government which is already cash-strapped.
Though the government has estimated that the loss is about Rs 12,600 crore, the actual loss suffered by the destitute families is Rs 8,000 more.
According to officials, the loss suffered by destitute families alone is about Rs 1,000 crore and the damage to irrigation tanks and water supply schemes is about Rs 2,000 crore.
If the damage to the standing crop in the 1.2 lakh acres in these districts is taken into account it will be about Rs 400 crore.
More than the damage to crops, the accumulation of sand in the fields will cause more loss to the farmers as they have to spend about Rs 10,000 per acre to make the fields cultivable again and it will put about Rs 100 crore more burden on the farmers.
The amount needed for undertaking repairs to the damaged roads in villages would run into hundreds of crores and it has to be borne by the State Government.
The AP Transco and Genco have suffered a loss of about Rs 1,000 crore as a power house and most of the substations were damaged and power supply lines collapsed.
Apart from farmers, farm hands did not have work for more than 15 days and they would not get any work till the Rabi season begins next year. This would cause a loss of about Rs 100 every day and the total loss they have to suffer for the next four months is about Rs 1,000 crore.
As 40,000 farmers have become penniless, they need about Rs 30,000 each to resume their farming operations in the Rabi season.
This amounts to about Rs 120 crore.
According to the government’s calculation, about 17 lakh people have suffered because of the floods. Of them, about seven lakh are weavers, construction labourers, coolies at market yards, mechanics, workshop, mill and godown owners and workers, milk suppliers, vegetable vendors, general store owners, autorickshaw drivers, cottage industry owners and workers, and roadside vendors.
All these have suffered more than Rs 2 lakh each on an average and if their loss is put together it will amount to Rs 14,000 crore. If all the losses are takenin to consideration it will total about Rs 20,000 crore.
So far the government has spent about Rs 600 crore on providing immediate relief. It has already exhausted of its calamity relief fund and has to depend on the advance of Rs 1,000 crore announced by the prime minister.
From various Central departments like Rural Electricity Supply, Rural Development, Energy, Agriculture, Urban Development and other departments the State Government can get about Rs 2,000 crore.
This will leave a burden of Rs 17,000 crore on the State Government.
It has to mobilise these funds from various sectors like banks, insurance companies and other financial institutions.
It will become a gigantic task for the government to mobilise funds to that extent as it has to convince all these agencies to fund for the rehabilitation activities.
–Agencies–