Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy briefed Union Agriculture and Rural Development Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan in detail about the damages caused due to heavy rains and floods which wreaked havoc in the Telangana State. The Chief minister said that the state has incurred a loss of around Rs 5,438 crore damages due to the flood related incidents in the preliminary estimations. The CM explained to the union minister that all the departments are busy collecting the details of the actual damages at the field level. The value of the total damages will be increased further after preparing the comprehensive report .
Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy held a meeting with Union Ministers- Shivraj Singh Chouhan and Bandi Sanjay at the Secretariat today ( Friday). Before meeting the CM , the union ministers inspected the flood affected areas in the state.
Deputy Chief Minister Bhatti Vikramarka, Ministers -Tummala Nageswar Rao, Ponguleti Srinivas Reddy and Advisor to the Chief Minister Vem Narender Reddy are also present. State Chief Secretary Santhi Kumari, Special Chief Secretary Ramakrishna Rao, CMO Principal Secretary Seshadri and other senior officers of various departments also participated in the meeting.
The Chief Minister explained the severity of the flood damages caused by the recent torrential rains in the state. The CM informed the union minister that Khammam, Mahabubnagar, Suryapet and other districts received a maximum rainfall of 40 cm in a single day, he said.
In the meeting with the union minister, the CM said that the state government was on high alert and took prompt action which resulted in preventing a huge loss of lives in the heavy rain hit areas in the state. However, the state suffered huge rain related damages, the CM said while making a powerpoint presentation on the floods in the state. The union minister and CM Revanth Reddy also visited the photo exhibition on state floods in the Secretariat .
The CM informed the Union minister about the complete damage of national highways, roads, houses and bridges in many places and vehicular traffic came to a standstill during the heavy rains in many areas. The condition of the railway track hanging due to the washed away of embankments in the flood hit Mahabubabad district and the details of the cancellation of train services are also shown in the powerpoint presentation.
The CM brought to the notice of the union minister about the plights of flood affected people and huge damages in the villages. State government has already disbursed Rs 10,000 as an immediate relief to every flood affected family . The officials informed the union minister that crops are also damaged due to piling up of sand, stones and debris in the farm lands.
CM Revanth Reddy appealed to the Union Government to provide immediate assistance for temporary repairs of breached lakes, damaged roads, dams and bridges. The Union minister has been requested to allocate adequate funds for the permanent restoration of damaged infrastructure.
The Chief Minister also requested Shivraj Singh Chouhan to bring some relaxations in the existing rules in the release of disaster funds to the states.
Earlier, until 2021 , the states were entitled to spend the NDRF funds after the 50 per cent of SDRF funds are utilized. The new guidelines allowed the states to utilize the NDRF funds only after spending 100 per cent of the SDRF funds. The CM urged the union minister to revoke the present rules and continue the previous guidelines.
The Chief Minister also appealed to increase the prescribed unit prices for every work for taking up the immediate repairs and permanent restoration works in the flood affected areas. The Officials briefed the union minister that at least Rs.60 crores are required for the immediate repairs of the damaged ponds. As per the present fixed rates, the state will not get more than Rs 4 crores.
CM Revanth Reddy informed the union minister that Khammam and Mahabubnagar districts in Telangana, which are the border districts of Andhra Pradesh, also suffered huge damages like in the neighbouring state. The CM requested to provide the centre’s flood relief to telangana equivalent to Andhra Pradesh and also consider the flood related damages in AP and Telangana states on similar lines.
Union Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan made it clear that there is no place for politics and parties when the affected people in the natural calamity are provided relief and rehabilitation by the centre in the rain hit areas.
