AP announces Rs. 5L ex gratia for families of flood victims

Amaravati: Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y.S Jagan Mohan Reddy on Monday asked officials to extend support to flood-affected families and provide compensation to those who lost their homes. Meanwhile, AP agriculture minister Kurasala Kannababu said Rs. 5 lakh compensation is being provided to the families of people who lost their lives due to heavy rains and floods,

The Chief Minister instructed the officials to provide compensation of Rs. 95,100 and sanction a new house to those who lost their homes and Rs. 5,200 to those whose houses are partially damaged due to the floods. Stating that 90% compensation has already been paid to the families of those who lost their lives, he asked the officials to take measures to provide compensation to the remaining families.

During a video conference here at the Secretariat, the Chief Minister said villages and wards should be considered a unit and services of volunteers should be availed to extend support to each family. Each family will be given 25 kg rice, 1 kg each dal, cooking oil, onion, potato, and Rs. 2,000, he added.

Jagan has also instructed the officials to provide a compensation of Rs. 25 lakh and a government job to the families of a Nellore constable, a village secretariat employee, and an RTC conductor who lost their lives while helping others during the floods. He directed the officials to start crop enumeration and supply seeds at 80% subsidy.

Jagan said a low pressure has re-emerged in the Bay of Bengal that is said to be heading south of Tamil Nadu. In view of this, he directed the officials to be on high alert and be prepared to face any situation. He said the state government has sanctioned an additional Rs. 10 crore each to Kurnool, Chittoor, Anantapur, and YSR districts amounting to Rs. 40 crore for relief measures.

He said orders have also been issued to provide cattle fodder and compensation to farmers who lost their livestock and added that permanent measures should be taken to plug leaks in lakes. He further instructed the officials to prepare an action plan for the construction of Annamayya and Pincha projects.

There should be no delay in power restoration, Jagan told the officials and directed them to relocate substations and power supply systems to non-flood prone areas.

Compensation

Agriculture minister Kurasala Kannababu told the Assembly that the death toll due to floods has reached 34 while another 10 people are missing. He said Rs. 5 lakh compensation is being provided to the families of people who lost their lives due to heavy rains and floods, Rs. 30,000 to farmers who lost their livestock, and Rs. 3,000 who lost sheep and goat. The minister said eight NDRF and eight SDRF teams along with two helicopters were used for rescue operations in 19 places. He said there are 294 relief camps in flood-affected areas and 57,969 people were evacuated to these camps.

Mr. Kannababu said crops were damaged in eight lakh hectares as per preliminary investigations and added that crop enumeration will be done once the floodwaters recede.