Revanth Reddy urges PM to declare Telangana floods national calamity

Hyderabad, Sep 2 (IANS) Telangana Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy on Monday urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to declare the heavy rain and floods in the state a national calamity.

The Chief Minister also requested the Prime Minister to personally visit the state to see the damages caused by rain and floods.

The floods caused loss of human lives and extensive damage to crops and property, he said, adding that railway tracks were washed away, several roads and lakes were breached while electricity poles were also damaged.

At a review meeting with state ministers and top officials here, Revanth Reddy asked Chief Secretary Santhi Kumari to write to the Prime Minister, requesting him to visit the flood-hit areas.

The state government will also request the Centre to send a team to assess the damages caused by rain and floods.

At the meeting, a decision was taken to enhance the compensation package for the families of the deceased from Rs 4 lakh to Rs 5 lakh.

The Chief Minister also decided to increase the compensation for loss of cattle from Rs 30,000 to Rs 50,000. The state government will pay Rs 5,000 each for the loss of goat/sheep instead of the present compensation of Rs 3,000.

Revanth Reddy also ordered the release of Rs 5 crore each to the collectors of Khammam, Mahabubabad, Suryapet, and Bhadradri Kothagudem districts for immediate relief works.

With the met department forecasting heavy rain in Adilabad, Nizamabad and Nirmal districts over the next two days, the Chief Minister asked the officials to alert the district collectors and all the concerned departments. He also directed that people from the low-lying areas be shifted to relief camps.

Control rooms will be set up in the collectorates for round-the-clock monitoring while a weather bulletin will be released every three hours.

Officials informed the Chief Minister that preliminary assessment shows that agriculture crops over more than 1.5 lakh acres of land have been damaged.

The Chief Minister also directed that houses be sanctioned under the Indiramma scheme to those who lost their houses due to the rain and floods.

On being informed that it was taking time for National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) teams to reach the affected areas for relief operations, the Chief Minister proposed one-third of the police personnel in eight battalions of the state be provided training on the lines of NDRF.