Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu has sought Rs. 1,000 crore as advance for immediate relief and restoration activities in the aftermath of the devastation caused by heavy rains and floods during the past ten days.
In a letter addressed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday, the Chief Minister stated that as per tentative estimates, the total loss in various categories came to Rs.3,000 crore and that he would send the final report after detailed enumeration in a few days.
Detailing the extensive damage caused due to rain from November 9 to 19, he sought generous financial assistance from the Central Government to take up rehabilitation and reconstruction measures.
He also said that the State Government had taken a decision to sanction relief on a scale which is higher than the NDRF norms and cited the examples of paying Rs. 5 lakh per deceased person against the Rs. 4 lakh provided by NDRF, and 20 kg of rice, one kg of dal, one litre palmoil, and one kg sugar for affected families against Rs. 60 per adult and Rs.45 per child provided by NDRF norms.
Naidu said that the heavy rains and floods had caused extensive damage to crops and infrastructure. As many as 95 stations had received very heavy rainfall ranging from 200 mm to 657 mm from Nov. 15 to 19. The worst affected district was Nellore, followed by Chittoor and Kadapa. Human loss was 35, and 613 cattle were lost. In all, 146 villages were affected. Agriculture and horticulture crops were affected in about two lakh hectares. Nearly 550 irrigation tanks and channels, and roads to an extent of 1865 km were damaged, he noted. As many as 188 relief camps were organised and 26,206 persons provided accommodation and food in camps. Already ten NDRF teams were deployed for rescue operations, he disclosed.
He also wrote similar letters to Home Minister Rajnath Singh and Union Agriculture Minister Radhamohan Singh seeking help.
Andhra Pradesh’s Principal Secretary (Land and Disaster Management) JC Sharma also wrote a similar letter to Joint Secretary, Disaster Management Division in the Ministry of Home Affairs. (INN)