The heavy rains that lashed Krishna district for the last one week have resulted in a loss of Rs.683.49 crore, according to Secondary Education Minister Kolusu Parthasarathy.
After holding a review on Sunday of the damage caused by rains, the Minister disclosed the details to mediapersons and said that the district had received about 300 mm rainfall during last five days, while it was 404 mm during entire October. The agriculture sector, Roads and Buildings (R&B) and Panchayatiraj roads, Vijayawada Municipal Corporation (VMC) and other departments had suffered heavy losses.
The paddy crop on 39,400 hectares, cotton on 31,000 hectares, and maize on 1800 hectares were damaged, he said. As much as 750 km length R&B roads were damaged in the district. About Rs.20 crore was required for temporary restoration of the R&B roads. It was estimated that Rs. 208 crore was required for permanent restoration of the roads.
The VMC had incurred losses due to damaged roads, sewerage, drinking water facilities etc. The Corporation required Rs.32 crore for permanent restoration and Rs.3 crore for temporary restoration, he said.
It was noticed that the bridges on canals were at low level obstructing free flow of flood water. Traffic was disrupted and flood waters entered the fields due to low level structures. Irrigation officials identified 18 such structures. The government would release funds if the expenditure for necessary action for each structure was less than Rs.50 lakh, he said.
The Markfed was operating centres in nine districts of Telangna for procurement of maize. As there were no centres in the district, the Markfed was asked to open a centre at Nuzvid, he said.
Referring to Neelam cyclone, the Minister said that the farmers had suffered losses to the tune of Rs.13 crore. The government had released Rs.10 crore, but, the amount could not be disbursed due to local body elections and strike that followed the elections. The compensation would be disbursed to farmers within a week, he added.
On electrocution at the rehabilitation centre, Mr. Parthasarathy said that inquiry was going on. Stringent action would be taken if any dereliction of duties was found. The rehabilitation camps would be wounded up in view of receding floods.
Stating that Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy would stop at the Gannavaram airport after an aerial survey of districts that suffered losses, the Minister said that a photo exhibition was being organised at the airport and the Chief Minister would review the damage caused by the rain.
Vijayawada (West) MLA Velampalli Srinivas, Vijayawada (Central) MLA Malladi Vishnu, and Vijayawada (East) MLA Yelamanchili Ravi were present.
