Central team inspects flood-hit areas in Nellore district

Nellore: Central team members who had formed into two groups visited various flood-affected areas in the district on Sunday.

Kunal Satyarthi, advisor, NDMA, Ministry of Home; Dr K Manoharan, Director of Agriculture, Cooperation and Farmers Welfare; Srinivasu Bairy, SE from Ministry of Water Resources; Shivan Sharma, Director, Ministry of Power; Anil Kumar Singh, Under Secretary, Ministry of Rural Development; Shravan Kumar Singh, SE from Ministry of Roads and Transport; and Abhay Kumar, Director, Ministry of Finance were among the team.

One team reached the district from Kadapa and another team from Tirupati for visiting the areas. District Collector Chakradhar Babu and other senior officials welcomed them at Naidupet and Somasila and followed them till their visit was completed. Members of one team visited Somasila reservoir and interacted with project chief engineer Hari Narayan Reddy, SE Venkata Ramana Reddy and others.

Further, they visited Beeraperu Vagu in Sangam mandal, damaged roads, tanks, agriculture lands and power infrastructure. The area has been suffering damages frequently and local farmers stressed the need for the construction of a permanent bund to the rivulet for preventing floods. They explained that they had lost crops in 600 acres.

Then, the Central team members visited the R&B road between BR Palem and Jonnawada which was badly damaged due to overflowing water. R&B officials explained about the situation. They also observed the compound wall of the ZP High School at Penuballi which collapsed due to incessant rains. They observed the photo exhibition arranged at the school and veterinary hospital and locals explained their rain woes to the team members.

The Central team members also visited the R&B road between Jonnawada and Devarapalem. District Collector KVN Chakradhar Babu, Atmakur RDO A Chaitravarshini, SE of Irrigation Krishna Mohan, and officials from irrigation and agriculture were also present.

Further, members of the second team Abhay Kumar, Sravan Kumar Singh and Anil Kumar Singh visited JJ Pet in Indukurpet mandal and observed the damaged banana plantations. They also visited the damaged roads and agriculture lands at Gangapatnam village. Farmers Ujjwala and Krishna Chaitanya explained about the difficulties with floodwater in the village.

The team members further visited Raju Colony at Mudivarthipalem in Indukurpet mandal. People explained to them that the local tank received a breach and the floodwater marooned the village. As a result, internal roads, electric facilities and houses were damaged.

The team visited the huge breach on the NH-16 at Venkateswara Puram and Joint Collector Harendira Prasad, city Municipal Commissioner K Dinesh Kumar, senior official of NHAI Govardhan and others explained the flood situation and breaches to the road.

District Collector KVN Chakradhar Babu explained to the Central team that the district had suffered a loss of Rs 1,190 crore due to heavy rains and flashfloods. He explained to the Central team members through a power point presentation at a private hotel on Sunday and informed the loss caused to 11,784 hectares of agriculture lands which is estimated to be Rs 12.68 crore, 2,481 hectares of horticulture crops of around Rs 3.40 crore, fish ponds in 1,016 hectares leading to a loss of around Rs 15.23 crore, handlooms and textiles in the district witnessed a loss of Rs 9 lakh, R&B roads to a stretch of 656 km received a loss of Rs 40.79 crore, 1,303 km of Panchayat Raj roads to the tune of Rs 335.73 crore, damage caused to 672 houses and roads in urban areas estimated to be Rs 11.14 crore, 1,465 irrigation sources suffered a loss of Rs 756.93 crore, RWS structures Rs 5.67 crore, health sector Rs 52 lakh, APSPDCL suffered a loss of Rs 8.52 crore, 6 schools received damages of Rs 2.54 crorer and women and child welfare wing suffered a loss of Rs.2.05 lakh in the district.