Chouhan terms Budameru floods ‘Jal Pralay’

Vijayawada: Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Thursday said that he had come to know that Budameru had suffered breaches due to illegal mining during the previous YSRCP regime. He said he had inspected the flood-affected areas of Vijayawada City extensively and interacted with flood victims directly by walking through flood water.

The Union Minister said as per the request of Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu army teams will reach Vijayawada to plug the Budameru breaches. He said a Central team has already been touring the flood-affected areas to assess the damage, including damage to crops.

Describing the flood devastation as ‘Jal Pralay’, the Union Minister said the Krishna river had received the highest flood of 11.43 lakh cusecs and at the same time Budameru received flood to a tune of 35,000 cusecs multiplying the flood situation in Vijayawada. He said the people of Vijayawada city suffered heavily due to Budameru floods.

Chouhan said that there is a need to increase the capacity of Prakasam barrage from present 11.9 lakh cusecs through a long term plan after receiving a report from the experts.

Praising the efforts of Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu for his untiring efforts during the flood situation, the Union Minister said the Chief Minister shifted his Secretariat to NTR District Collectorate to coordinate with the officials to meet the flood challenge.

Appreciating the efforts of the Chief Minister, the Union minister said the initiative of Naidu along with all his ministerial colleagues, MPs and MLAs is exemplary. He said as a result of Naidu’s efforts, the satisfaction levels are high among the flood victims.

The Union minister said the Central government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi is extending cooperation to the NDA government in the state. He said as per the directions of the Prime Minister, he is visiting the flood-affected regions of Vijayawada and going to visit the flood-affected villages on Friday.

Earlier, Chandrababu Naidu informed the Central minister over the need to increase the capacity of Prakasam barrage to more than 15 lakh cusecs from the present 11.9 lakh cusecs. He said he is sending an expert report to the Central government in this regard.

Union minister Pemmasani Chandrasekhar, BJP state president D Purandeswari and state minister Nadendla Manohar were present.

Earlier, Shivraj Singh Chowhan inspected the Budameru flood inundated areas through an aerial survey and state minister Nara Lokesh explained to the Union Minister about the damage caused due to the floods and heavy rainfall in the state. Later, the Union minister visited the NTR District Collectorate where Chief Minister Naidu is running the camp office and gone through a photo exhibition on the floods.