Floods: children from NGO homes shifted to safer places

Decision taken as a precautionary measure, says Nava Jeevan Bala Bhavan executive director

As many as 100 children and 20 staff members of two private NGO homes have been shifted to safer places as the flood level has been raising in the Krishna river.

The children, who include orphans and those from poverty-stricken families, were staying in the homes located on the banks on either sides of the river.

Guntur urban district Superintendent of Police (SP) R.N. Ammi Reddy said that instructions were given for shifting of the children immediately in the wake of floods.

Speaking to

The Hindu on Monday, Nava Jeevan Bala Bhavan (NJBB) executive director Ratna Kumar said that 70 inmates and about ten staff members working in Chiguru Home, run by NJBB at Undavalli, were evacuated from the home.

“All the inmates and staff members are safe. They were shifted to the another home located in Vijayawada as a precautionary measure,” Fr. Ratna Kumar said.

S.K.C.V. Children’s Trust chairman A. Sridhar Reddy said about 30 persons staying in the home, located on the river bank at Bhavanipuram, were shifted to the main campus of the home at Gandhinagar in Vijayawada.

“Following directions by the officials, the home was vacated and the children and the staff were shifted. The home will be closed until the flood water recedes,” Dr. Sridhar Reddy said.

NDRF deployed

Meanwhile, National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) 10th Battalion Commandant Zahid Khan said that three teams were deployed at Tadepalli, Nandigama and Vijayawada as the flood level was rising.

“The forces with necessary life-saving equipment have been deployed on the river banks and in the inundated villages in Krishna and Guntur districts. NDRF personnel will coordinate with the district officials and guard the river bund and ghats round the clock at Tadepalli, Seetanagaram, Bhavanipuram and other points,” Mr. Khan said.