Union Minister of State for Home G. Kishan Reddy on Wednesday announced that a five member team of officials will be deputed to Hyderabad and Telangana to assess the extent of damage to properties and crops in recent heavy rains.
The officials led joint secretary Praveen Vasista will also have R.B. Kaul from the Finance Ministry, K. Manoharan from the Agriculture Ministry, S.K. Kushawaha from the Road Transport & Highways Ministry and another yet to be named senior official from Jala Shakti (Water Resources Ministry). They will undertake a two-day visit starting tomorrow.
“The team is being sent despite the rains continuing in TS because of the kind of devastation that had occurred. They will tour the twin cities and districts with the State Government officials to estimate the extent of loss and submit a report to the Centre,” he said, at a press conference in New Delhi.
The Minister, who is also Secunderabad MP, said as per the revised norms decided by the NDA Government in 2015, ₹4 lakh each will be disbursed to the families of the deceased and ₹2 lakh for anyone disabled during the natural calamity.
The money will be released from the National Disaster Response Fund and the State Disaster Response Fund. A sum of ₹1207 will be given for the injured persons, ₹1800 for those who lost their clothes and other belongings and ₹2000 for household goods purchases.
“The Modi Government had revised the relief and rehabilitation norms five years ago and accordingly funds will be released. The State Government has already submitted a preliminary report and officials are looking into it. It will be assessed along with the report submitted by the Central team,” said Mr. Reddy.
The Minister advised the TS Government to make use of the State Disaster Relief Fund to provide succour to the affected people and the Centre will reimburse the same as it is meant to be used for these kinds of emergencies.
“The Centre is ready to provide any kind of assistance to the State Government This is not the time to do finger pointing and criticise as Central teams are being dispatched without even waiting for the rains to subside. Centre or State, the funds will be from the public exchequer so there is no need for politicking on this issue,” he said.
At the same time, Mr. Reddy took a swipe at the TRS Government charging that the encroachments on lakes and storm water drains continues unabated. “Satellite data will clearly show the extent of encroachments on all water bodies in the last few years. Illegal dumping of debris is continuing and I myself had brought these to the notice of collectors concerned many a time,” he said.
The Minister also claimed the desilting of storm water drains is not being done efficiently. “Nothing much has changed to prevent urban flooding despite the change of Governments over the years,” he maintained.
