AP seeks Rs 5,000 crore Central relief

Amaravati: The Andhra Pradesh government on Monday requested the Centre to grant Rs 5,279 crore for restoration of infrastructure damaged due to heavy rains and floods in the state during August-October this year.

Chief secretary Nilam Sawhney told the visiting Inter-ministerial Central Team, led by joint secretary Saurav Ray, that the state suffered gross damage to the tune of Rs 6,320.83 crore due to heavy rains and floods in rivers Krishna and Godavari in different spells during August, September and October.

"Total amount required for relief and restoration of damaged infrastructure is estimated at Rs 5,279.11 crore, of which Rs 840.07 crore is required as per National Disaster Relief Fund norms for relief and temporary restoration of damaged infrastructure.

An amount of Rs 4,439.14 crore is required for permanent restoration of damaged infrastructure," the chief secretary told the IMCT at a high-level meeting in the Secretariat here. "Generous support by the Government of India will help the state, which is already in critical financial position due to Covid-19," she said.

In her presentation, the chief secretary said AP received heavy rains from August 13 to October 17 due to four low-pressure systems and one deep depression formed over the Bay of Bengal. The floods in Godavari and Krishna rivers were caused due to incessant rains in upper catchment areas of the two river basins in Telangana, Maharashtra and Karnataka, besides heavy rains in the state.

The state as a whole received a cumulative rainfall of 444.5 mm as against the normal 351.2 mm during the period, which was 26.6 per cent in excess. Out of 670 mandals in the state, 387 mandals in 12 districts have been affected due to incessant rains and floods in Godavari and Krishna rivers, she pointed out.

While 45 people were killed in rain-related incidents like wall collapse, drowning and landslides, five more were reported missing, despite the best possible search and rescue efforts by NDRF and SDRF. Also, 8,784 houses were fully damaged in the affected districts while a large number of cattle were also killed. The chief secretary explained that agriculture crops like paddy, maize, cotton, black gram, pulses and sugarcane, suffered damage to an extent of 2,12,588 hectare.

Paddy alone suffered the worst damage in 1,40,485 hectare, Sawhney said, adding that cotton was the next in an extent of 25,068 ha. Horticulture crops, including vegetables, banana, papaya and turmeric, worth Rs 483 crore were also damaged.

As many as 2,657 fish and prawn ponds to an extent of 5,819.7 hectare were damaged in West Godavari, Krishna, East Godavari, Guntur and Visakhapatnam districts, the chief secretary added. Road network, rural water supply schemes, irrigation tanks and drainage systems in urban local bodies also suffered extensive damage.

The IMCT inspected a photo exhibition at the Secretariat on the damage. The IMCT later split into three different groups and visited Anantapur, Krishna and Guntur districts for an on-the-spot inspection of the damage suffered. The teams will visit East and West Godavari districts on Tuesday.