Nine lakh families, affected by the Sunday’s very severe cyclonic storm Hudhud, will be supplied essential commodities free of cost through fair price shops, Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu has announced.
Anyone could receive this help. Every family would be given 25 kg of rice, three to five litres of kerosene, one kg sugar, two kg dal, three kg potato, one kg palm oil, two kg onion and half kg chilli powder, while fishermen and weavers will get an additional 25 kg rice, Mr. Naidu told reporters on Wednesday.
The Chief Minister also said that hundreds of tonnes of vegetables were being brought to the city from other districts and would be sold at Rs. 5 (non-perishable) and Rs. 3 (perishable) a kg.
Restoration of power supply posed a major challenge as the destruction was massive, the Chief Minster said. Nearly 45,000 electric poles were damaged. Supply was being restored wherever possible by establishing a temporary system. He requested Chief Minister of West Bengal to depute staff for restoration of power supply, Mr. Naidu added.
DirectiveThe Chief Minister wanted the officials to totally get involved in the relief work and make people happy. In the present situation every officer and politician must execute their job with dedication, he said and instructed officials not to accompany him on his visits during the cyclone relief monitoring he was doing from here. Only five vehicles should be in his convoy and no vehicle of an official must be in it. He told the police to seize the vehicle of any official if he or she violated his instructions.
Mr. Naidu later left for Vizianagaram and Srikakulam to visit the cyclone-devastated areas in the two districts.
