Central team to visit Telangana today to assess damage caused by floods

Hyderabad, Sep 11 (IANS) A six-member central team will arrive in Telangana later on Wednesday to visit flood-affected districts.

The team led by Col Kirti Pratap Singh, Joint Secretary (Operation and Communications) in the Union Home Ministry, will meet Chief Secretary Santhi Kumari in the Secretariat.

The Chief Secretary will brief the team on the damage caused by the floods through a PowerPoint presentation.

The central team will also see a photo exhibition arranged by the Telangana government to depict the destruction caused by heavy rains and floods in various districts.

Later the team will split into two groups to visit Suryapet, Khammam, Mahabubabad, and other districts to assess the damage.

The central team comprises officers from the finance, agriculture, roads, rural development departments, and the National Remote Sensing Agency.

The team will also meet affected people and state officials.

Earlier, Union Minister for Coal, G Kishan Reddy, after a visit to flood-affected districts on Sunday spoke to Col Singh, who is also Adviser to the National Disaster Relief Force, and apprised him about his findings.

Heavy rains and floods in Khammam, Mahabubabad, Suryapet and other districts early this month claimed 26 lives and caused widespread damage to houses, crops, roads, bridges, irrigation tanks and electricity installations.

Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on September 6 made an aerial survey of the flood-hit areas in Khammam district.

He along with Union Minister of State for Home Bandi Sanjay Kumar also saw damage on the ground and interacted with the affected farmers.

Chouhan assured farmers that the state and the Central governments would together extend them all possible help.

The Union minister later met Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy in Hyderabad who apprised him of the damage caused by the floods.

During the meeting, CM Reddy urged the Centre to extend to Telangana the same assistance which is being provided to Andhra Pradesh for flood relief measures.

CM Reddy said that as per preliminary estimates the state suffered a loss of around Rs 5,438 crore.

CM Reddy had earlier requested the Centre to provide Rs 2,000 crore as immediate assistance for relief measures in flood-hit districts.