The Telangana High Court on Friday directed the state government to file a comprehensive report on flood-relief measures taken up between 2020 and 2023 including during the recent deluge.

Meanwhile, Telangana Congress party held a protest demonstration in front of the headquarters of the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation to highlight BRS government’s alleged failure to handle the situation arising from heavy rains in the city and the subsequent flooding while BJP leaders visited flood affected areas as Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao decided to hold the state Cabinet meeting on 31 July.

Advertisement

Since it is an election year, every party seems to be in an overdrive to earn some brownie points over the floods. In Malkajgiri, posters by Congress state president A Revanth Reddy featuring the missing chief minister surfaced to highlight his absence from the scene during the floods. The BRS hit back with posters of Reddy suggesting that the MP too was missing from the scene.

Meanwhile the state Cabinet is scheduled to meet on 31 July to review the post-flood situation in view of record breaking rainfall received by the state in the last two days. The Cabinet will decide on alternative agricultural policies and estimate damages to the roads and their restoration on war footing.

The sessions of the state Assembly and the Legislative Council will be held from 3 August.

Following the flooding in Hyderabad in 2020 the BRS had performed badly in the ensuing civic body elections and the spectre of that loss might be weighing heavily on the ruling party.

The direction from the high court came while a division bench headed by the chief justice was adjudicating a PIL seeking directions to both the Centre and state government to extend relief measures promised to flood affected people in 2020.

Despite large-scale damage, compensation and ex gratia promised to the victims were still pending, said the petition. The BRS blamed the Centre for denying financial aid to the flood-affected state.

Following a call given by A Revanth Reddy, Telangana Congress leaders and supporters took out a protest rally on Friday from Gun Park to lay siege around GHMC headquarters carrying placards amid slogans against the BRS. The party has demanded that the state government should pay Rs 10,000, along with free ration to the flood-affected families. They also demanded resignation of the Municipal Administration Minister KT Rama Rao.

A little later, Congress supporters from nearby points rushed in and tried to barge into the GHMC office prompting the police to arrest and shift them away from the spot but leaders like V Hanumantha Rao who managed to get in sat on protests outside the office of the GHMC commissioner.

On the other hand, BJP state president G Kishan Reddy visited flood-affected areas in Yusufguda and blamed the minister for concentrating on Hi Tech city and neglecting the slums.