Hyderabad, November 04: A week after the visit to the State by a Central team on floods, a group of 11 officials arrived here on Tuesday to assess the drought conditions, while the State government revised its estimates and sought Rs 9,747 crore to fight its effect.
After calling on Chief Minister K. Rosaiah, the team delved into various aspects of drought at a three-hour meeting with senior officials addressed by Chief Secretary P. Ramakanth Reddy, before proceeding in five groups for field visits to the affected areas. The team went round a photo exhibition on the gravity of the situation, at Lakeview Guest House.
‘Delicate job’
Upma Chaudhry, Joint Secretary, Union Agriculture and Cooperation Ministry, who heads the team, told reporters that she was faced with a delicate job, as some mandals were declared by the State as affected by drought as well as floods. She, however, promised to submit the assessment report “soon”, recommending suitable assistance to the State.
The Chief Minister reportedly requested her to be liberal in making recommendations as the State, as never before, was affected by two calamities simultaneously. S. Balasubramanyam, Disaster Management Commissioner, submitted a revised memorandum to her, estimating the sum required by the State government to mitigate the hardships of drought-affected people at Rs 9,747 crore. Of this, Rs 3,007 crore would alone go to the agriculture sector, Rs 2,802 crore for wage employment and Rs 4,500 crore for implementation of the Prime Minister’s package. The sum required for restoration and resettlement in flood-hit areas was put at Rs. 12,847 crore.
Team visits
The five groups of the Central team will visit Medak, Karimanagar, Nizamabad, Warangal, Nalgonda, Khammam, Mahabubnagar, Chittoor, Prakasam, Guntur, Krishna, Visakhapatnam, Vizianagaram and Srikakulam. The groups are expected to return here on November 6 for a wrap-up meeting with the Chief Minister .
–Agencies