T'gana seeks Rs 16,732 crore from Centre as immediate flood relief

Hyderabad, Sep 4 The Telangana government on Thursday urged the Centre to immediately release Rs 16,732 crore to the State towards flood relief.

A delegation from the state government headed by Deputy Chief Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka met Union Home Minister Amit Shah in Delhi and submitted a representation, urging the Centre to immediately provide the assistance.

The assistance sought by the state include Rs 11,713 crore towards relief works in districts affected by last year’s flood. The remaining Rs 5,018 crore is towards relief in the districts affected by the recent floods.

The Centre was also urged to declare it as national calamity. The delegation also requested the Centre to send a Central team to Telangana to visit the flood-affected areas and assess the damages.

According an official release here, the Union Home Minister told the delegation a team of Central government officials will be sent to Telangana to assess the damages due to floods.

The state delegation brought to Home Minister Amit Shah’s notice that the state had last year sought Rs 11,713 crore towards flood relief in Khammam and surrounding districts but the Centre did not release the assistance.

They also told the Union Home Minister that as per the preliminary assessment the state suffered a loss of Rs 5,108 crore in the recent floods.

The delegation, which included Agriculture Minister Tummala Nageswara Rao, state government’s special representative in Delhi A.P. Jitender Reddy and senior government officials, that this is only an initial estimate. The final estimates will be known after the floods completely recede.

The delegation explained that the state received heavy rains between August 25 and 28. The rains caused extensive damage to infrastructure in Kamareddy, Medak, Nirmal and Nizamabad districts. The state has so far recorded 25 per cent excess rainfall while rainfall received in eight districts is 65-95 per cent above normal.

Home Minister Amit Shah was told that the state government has mobilised resources to undertake relief measures. Seven teams of NDRF, 15 teams of SDRF and about 100 Army personnel participated in relief operations.

The delegation informed Home Minister that the heavy rains badly damaged roads, railway tracks, culverts, electricity poles and transformers and disrupted normal life across the state.

They informed the Home Minister that as per the initial estimates the floods resulted in the loss of 22 human lives. The assessment about loss of cattle, damage to houses and crops is underway.

According to the representation, the Municipal Administration department suffered an estimated loss of Rs 1,025 crore.

The loss due to roads damaged in the floods is estimated at Rs 785 crore. The irrigation department suffered loss of Rs 655 crore while the crop loss was to the tune of Rs 236 crore. Panchayat Raj and Rural Development suffered a loss of Rs 377 crore.

The Home Minister was told that the state immediately needs Rs 1,500 crore for emergency repairs.

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