Be on high alert for 24 more hours: CM YS Jagan

Vijayawada: Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy directed the authorities to appoint a senior official for each flood-affected district to monitor the situation along with relief measures and cautioned them to stay on high alert for the next 24 hours as the water inflows are likely to increase. He held a video conference on the Godavari floods relief measures with the concerned officials after conducting an aerial survey in the flood-hit districts on Friday.

Also, he instructed all the secretaries to consider requests of the district authorities and provide them with supplies and help on a war footing. The Chief Minister asked the officials to focus on evacuating people from inundated villages, and those adjacent to the banks of Godavari and shift them to relief camps. He told the officials to be prepared with materials like sandbags to put near ridges and flood walls. He directed to provide assistance to the families of the flood victims at the rate of Rs 2,000 each along with essential items of 25 kg rice, one kg dal, potatoes, onions, palm oil and milk in the next 48 hours.

He instructed officials to use helicopters in emergency services and take adequate measures for addressing sanitation and drinking water issues.

The Chief Minister asked them to take all necessary precautionary measures to prevent damage and ensure that all types of medications, including medicine for snakebites, are available at primary health centres, area hospitals, and district hospitals, along with generators to meet emergency services without any interruption.

He ordered that due priority be accorded to avoid disruptions in the communication system by supplying diesel to cell phone towers for uninterrupted service. He stressed that quality services have to be provided at the relief camps for the flood victims.

Later, chief secretary Sameer Sharma appointed special officers for all five flood-affected districts. Karthikeya Misra for Alluri Sitarama Raju district, Arun Kumar for East Godavari, Muralidhar Reddy for Dr. BR Ambedkar Konaseema district, Praveen Kumar for West Godavari district, and Katamaneni Bhaskar for Eluru district.

Chief secretary Sameer Sharma, DGP K V Rajendranath Reddy, chief commissioner of land administration G Saiprasad, municipal administration and urban development special CS Y Sreelakshmi and others took part.