The National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) recovered eight bodies of people from Kondai village under Eturnagram Mandal in the worst-hit Mulugu district of Telangana, who had gone missing while trying to reach to safety amid flash floods.
However, Telangana Congress president A Revanth Reddy has claimed that 30 people have died in the state. He gave a call to party workers to perform the last rites of Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao and Municipal Affairs Minister KT Rama Rao on Monday in protest against the state government’s failure to deal with the situation arising from the floods.
The state government has not given out any official statement on the death toll, but various reports have said several people died in the flash floods caused by 48 hours of incessant rain.
Lashing out at the BRS, which had put up missing posters in his Lok Sabha constituency, Malkajgiri Reddy, who toured the Uppal and LB Nagar areas on Saturday, alleged that the state government was unprepared despite warnings from the MET office.
“Telangana government is dead. KCR and KTR have been washed away in floods as we cannot find them,” he said calling upon the Congress workers to conduct pindadan (last rites) on Monday and pay homage to the departed souls.
He said as a Union minister, G Kishan Reddy, who is also BJP state president, must speak to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and bring in funds from the National Disaster Fund as he estimated the damages to be worth around Rs 1,000 crore.
Meanwhile, Congress MLA from Mulugu Danasari Seethakka sought help for the people of her constituency, a predominantly tribal society, who will have to rebuild everything lost to the floods. She burst into tears in front of the camera while making an appeal to the general public to extend helping hand for the rehabilitation of the tribal population.
Seethakka said eight of the 12 people set off for a safer shelter could have been saved from being washed away from Kondai village only if helicopter service had been provided to them.
The Kondai village submerged after a nearby stream Jampannavagu breached its bank. IAF personnel are airdropping food and other relief materials in Mulugu. About 100 people had been rescued by boats.
Telangana DGP Anjani Kumar said about 19,000 people have been shifted to safer places in various districts. Ten NDRF teams are deployed in the state with two in Bhadrachalam, one in Kothagudem, Mulugu, Warangal, Khammam, Bhupalpalli and Hyderabad. Vehicular traffic between Telangana and Chhattisgarh has come to a halt due to flooding on the highways.
Meanwhile, state Municipal Administration Minister KT Rama Rao directed the municipal officials to take steps to supply safe drinking water and take up sanitation work. They were told to ensure water levels of various water bodies are constantly monitored with the help of the Irrigation Department.