The State government will send senior officials to follow up with the Centre after the Inter-Ministerial Central team on cyclone damages submits its report to the government, Agriculture Minister Prathipati Pulla Rao said.
Addressing media after a debriefing review meeting with the nine-member Central team headed by Joint Secretary in Union Home Ministry K.K. Pathak, the Minister said that Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu had already requested the Centre to declare cyclone Hudhud a National Calamity. The government would follow it up with the Centre to ensure that the funds were released at the earliest.
The Central team had concurred with the estimates drawn up by the State government, he added.
The Central team had appreciated the efforts of the district administrations in providing relief and restoring services such as water supply and electricity in a record time.
The team members had wanted a document on that to draw up guidelines for relief and restoration work, Minister for HRD and Education Ganta Srinivasa Rao said.
A large number of institutions and corporates had come forward to donate large sums to the Chief Minister Relief Fund for taking up relief work. The Chief Minister had suggested to the big ticket donors to instead adopt a cyclone affected habitation and take up its development. They were requested to create sustainable model colonies, Labour Minister K Atchannaidu said.
The State government had already released amounts directly into the bank accounts of cyclone affected persons. However, many cases were coming to light that the affected persons did not have a bank account, Minister for Rural Water Supply Ch. Ayyanna Patrudu said.
He advised the affected persons to open bank accounts as they did not have to spend a single paise as deposit for opening an account under Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana. Going forward the bank account was essential for receiving all payments and compensations from the government, he said.
