HC: Telangana report on 2023 flood data incomplete, update info on relief measures

Hyderabad: While examining the latest report on floods submitted by the government, the Telangana High Court asked the state government to provide more details, especially the updates about the recent floods witnessed by Telangana in July 2023.

A Division Bench comprising Chief Justice Alok Aradhe and Justice T Vinod Kumar pointed out that though the Telangana State, in its report, mentioned that 41 persons had died in the floods, it failed to mention the recent deaths of five persons in Jayashankar Bhupalpally District and the impending danger to the lives of the people living in the low-lying areas of the Kadiyam Dam in Nirmal District, which is currently overflowing with flood water.

The Division Bench also recorded the contention of Chikkudu Prabhakar, counsel for the petitioner in a PIL that, though the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) alerted the government on July 19 about the threat of heavy floods, the State ignored the alert, resulting in the loss of innocent lives.

The court felt that certain important information on the floods was not furnished in the report and directed the state to submit another report on the relief measures taken up by the state to circumvent the apathy and ordeal the flood victims faced during the recent floods.

The bench asked the state to submit data on many aspects, including the number of deaths in Jayashankar Bhupalapally district due to floods, the action taken to conduct search and recovery operations to locate missing individuals and provide support to the families who lost their lives, whether the state government has established a toll-free number/helpline numbers to report missing family members, along with the call centres to maintain information of individuals found and living in the shelter homes, steps taken to restore essential services in flood affected areas through restoration of telephone, electricity and internet lines, and steps taken to offer psychological support to the flood victims, who experienced trauma and loss during the floods.

In addition, the court told the state to take special measures to prevent the spread of water-borne infections, now that the waters have started to recede. The court directed the state to continue providing relief measures to the flood victims.

Harender Prasad, special GP, informed the court that all steps are being taken by the state to help the flood victims reach safer places and provide homes, food and other essential things. He said the collectors of the respective districts are working 24x7 monitoring the flood situation and extending all the relief measures.

He further informed the court that 41 persons across the state have succumbed to the ire of floods, and the NDRF, SDRF, Airforce, Army and Police have been pressed into service to evacuate the flood victims to safer places, which includes 80 tourists.

He said that 162 shelter homes/camps have been created to support 14,216 persons.

The court adjourned the case till August 4.

The Division Bench was adjudicating a PIL filed by Cheruku Sudhakar, seeking directions to the Union of India and the Telangana Government to extend relief measures to the flood victims of 2020 and an interim application in the PIL seeking a direction to extend relief measures to the flood victims of 2023.