Hyderabad, October 05: Telugu Desam Party president N. Chandrababu Naidu has faulted Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for not yet visiting the flood-ravaged areas in Andhra Pradesh since a calamity of such magnitude was not witnessed for the past 100 years.
Addressing a press conference at Begumpet airport here on Sunday, soon after his arrival from an aerial survey of Mahabubnagar and Kurnool districts, he said: “The Prime Minister should have come by now. It [his visit] is already delayed. Nothing will be visible if he comes tomorrow or day after tomorrow as the flood waters will recede by then,” he observed.
Mr. Naidu, who flew over Alampur, Mantrayalam, Sunkesula and Kurnool for more than two-and-half hours, said the devastation was quite extensive. Alampur continued to be under water, including the famous Jogulamba temple, and people in Kurnool were still facing a lot of difficulties. Roads, bridges and houses had collapsed, crops were inundated and electrical poles and trees had been uprooted all along the flood-hit regions.
The TDP president blamed the government for the calamity saying it had failed to anticipate the situation and take precautionary measures. There was a standard drill to be followed as per the manual on river Krishna whenever the levels rise along its course. Lapses had occurred and there was no strategy. The situation would not have come to such a pass had water been released from the Srisailam reservoir prior to the huge inflows received by it. On a single day, the reservoir received 200 tmcft, which was twice the normal inflows.
–Agencies–