Union Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde has said reconstruction activity would be undertaken by the National Disaster Management Authority in the country in three phases.
Addressing a meeting after laying a foundation stone for a bridge to be constructed at a cost of Rs 8.2 crore on Upputeru near Modi village in West Godavari district today, Sushil Kumar said in the first phase, reconstruction activity would be taken up at a cost of Rs 1,497 crore in Andhra Pradesh and Odisha.
Of this, Rs 720 crore would be spent on rehabilitation and reconstruction works along the coast of Andhra Pradesh. He said all these works would be completed by 2015. In the second phase, he said works would be taken up in Kerala, West Bengal, Maharashtra and Gujarat.
The Union Home Minister, who is also a member of the authority, said research was on to desalinate lands in the sea cost turning saline. He said so far the National Disaster Management Authority had acted in 17 instances of disasters and undertaken reconstruction work.
The Authority’s vice-chairman Marri Sasidhar Reddy, State ministers Vatti Vasanta Kumar, Pitani Satyanaryaana, MPs Kanumuri Bapiraju, Kavuri Sambasiva Rao and several MLAs participated in the program. Representatives of the APNGO association met the Union Home Minister and submitted a memorandum to him asking that the State be retained united.
–Agencies