Central team visits Telangana for flood assessment

A central team on Thursday began a two-day visit of Telangana for assessment of damage caused by the recent heavy rains and floods in parts of the state, especially the city, as the state government pegged losses to crops and roads at over Rs 8,500 crore.

The five-member inter-ministerial team, led by Joint Secretary Praveen Vasishta,met state Chief Secretary Somesh Kumar, who said the state government had taken all measures to minimise loss of life and property due to the floods, an official release said here.

The team was given a power-point presentation and briefed about the extent of damage caused by the torrential rains, that triggered flash floods, inundating hundreds of houses in low-lying areas here and elsewhere in the state last week, and left 70 people dead.The rains have subsided since the last couple of days.

The officials of irrigation, municipal administration, Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC), energy and other departments interacted with the Central team and gave an overview of the loss incurred, it said.

They informed the team that there was excess rainfall during the last ten days which resulted in flooding. Though there were rains in the entire state, excessive damage occurred in and around Hyderabad and neighbouring districts.Breaches to three major tanks, coupled with flooding in Musi river, resulted in low-lying areas being inundated, the release said.

The losses to crops and roads were estimated at Rs 8,633 crore and Rs 222 crore respectively. The GHMC suffered damage worth around Rs 567 crores, it said.

The state government has released Rs 550 crore for immediate flood relief and food packets were supplied to more than two lakh people. Three members of the Central team visited various rain-hit localities in the city and interacted with flood victims, a GHMC release said.

Hyderabad Lok Sabha member and AIMIM president Asaduddin Owaisi interacted with Vashista at Hafez Baba Nagar, party sources said.

Separately, two members of the Central team visited Siddipet district and inspected the damage to crops, roads, houses and others,official sources added.Meanwhile, the government machinery continued rain- relief measures in the city on Thursday.

The Disaster Response Force (DRF) teams sprayed disinfectants in flood-hit areas, GHMCs Director of Enforcement, Vigilance and Disaster Management, VishwajitKampati, tweeted.

All measures were being taken to prevent spread of seasonal diseases and COVID-19 in the city as we stride forward towards normalcy, he said.Union Minister of State for Home G Kishan Reddy, who is the Lok Sabha member from Secunderabad here, visited various rain-hit localities in the city on Thursday.

Observing that encroachments on tanks, drainages and others were mainly responsible for the inundation of various localities in Hyderabad, he said strict measures should be taken to prevent such encroachments.

If necessary, the state government should hold a meeting with all political parties and experts and take tough decisions, a release quoted him as saying.

The brand image of Hyderabad had been damaged in the backdrop of the flooding, he said, adding "we all have a responsibility to protect it".