Telangana Chief Minister Revanth Reddy on Monday appealed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to declare the floods in the state as a national calamity and allocate Rs 2,000 crore immediately for relief work after heavy rain claimed 16 lives in the state, and caused large scale damage to crops and property, including to train tracks and roads between Hyderabad and Vijayawada.
He also invited the Prime Minister to inspect the devastation caused by unprecedented rain which was roughly estimated to be about Rs 5000 crore. As the state government increased the ex gratia to the kin of the deceased to Rs 5 lakh from Rs 4 lakh, the BRS demanded it should be raised to Rs 25 lakh as promised by Reddy when Congress was in the Opposition.
The chief minister today visited Nalgonda and Khammam districts to visit the flood affected areas after his government received flak for inadequate rescue operations. With IMD predicting heavy rain tomorrow the state was bracing up for another deluge as every waterbody was filled to the brim.
The Telangana government also released Rs 5 crore each to district collectors of four flood affected districts of Khammam, Bhadradri Kothagudem, Mahabubabad and Suryapet from its contingency fund. The chief minister directed the officials to submit a comprehensive flood damage report to the Centre.
Khammam remains one of the worst affected districts as the Manneru river overflowed and flooded the city, leaving the residents marooned on roof tops. The chief minister said he had briefed Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union home minister Amit Shah and Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi about the floods in Khammam and Nalgonda.
The chief minister also decided to set up the Telangana Disaster Response Force to tackle disasters effectively. He urged Union minister G Kishan Reddy and Bandi Sanjay to secure central funds worth Rs2000 crore for the state for immediate relief and rehabilitation.
Railway services were hampered and many trains were cancelled for the second day due to damage to the tracks, and washing away of gravel. Damaged tracks between Intakanne and Kesamudaram were being restored at least on one side to resume train services.
With flood waters overflowing on NH65 between Hyderabad and Vijayawada police advised commuters to avoid travelling on that route. Meanwhile, 242 NDRF personnel and 30 tins of relief material were brought to Vijayawada and Shamsabad by 2 Air Force aircrafts last evening to augment relief work.
In Andhra Pradesh chief minister Chandrababu Naidu continued his visit to flood affected areas of Vijaywada on the second day. He travelled on an earth mover in the flood waters to reach out to the people. Availability of power boats which the state government had asked from Centre expedited rescue efforts of stranded people. He inspected Krishna Lanka and Jakkampudi and other low lying areas as Krishna River which is in full spate almost reached above the Prakasham barrage.
Naidu was currently camping in his caravan after remaining till 3am on Sunday at the collector office overseeing relief. Residents of the Singh Nagar area overrun by the flood waters of Budameru canal complained that phones were not working and there was no supply of water.
Opposition leader YS Jagan Mohan Reddy also inspected the flood affected areas. AP CMO described this as “the biggest floods in the history of 121 years with 11.36 cusecs of flood water” discharged from the barrage.