AP seeks Rs 6510 Cr relief for Phailin and heavy rain damages

Hyderabad, Nov 9 : Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh on Saturday announced an immediate advance Central assistance of Rs 1,000 crore relief towards the Phailin cyclone and heavy rains damages. He made this announcement when Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy, Ministers and other leaders met the Prime Minister in New Delhi and sought immediate Central assistance towards the relief works.

The Prime Minister also assured the Chief Minister to release Rs 1145 Crore Central assistance due to Andhra Pradesh since 2009 towards drought and cyclone relief already sanctioned but not released. The Prime Minister assured Kiran Kumar Reddy to immediately release this amount after looking into the details.

The Chief Minister today requested Prime Minister to sanction Rs 6510.39 Cr relief as per NDRF norms towards the damages caused due to both Phailin Cyclone and the recent heavy rains and sought an emergency advance of Rs 1000 Cr to Andhra Pradesh.

AICC General Secretary and AICC in-charge of AP Affairs, Digvijay Singh, Deputy Chief Minister Damodar Rajanarasimha, PCC Chief and Transport Minister B.Satyanarayana, Union Ministers Pallam Raju, Chiranjivi, Panabaka Lakshmi, State Ministers Parthasarathi, Ganta Srinivasa Rao, Sailajanath, MPs Sai Pratap, Ananta Venkatram Reddy, K V P Ramachandra Rao were among those who accompanied the Chief Minister while meeting the Prime Minister.

The Chief Minister told the Prime Minister that the Phailin cylcone followed by heavy rains and floods lashed Andhra Pradesh from 10th to 13th of October this year. He said the Cyclonic storm, Phailin crossed the coast near Gopalpur in Odisha, about 40 Kms from the border of Andhra Pradesh between on the 12th October. This resulted in enormous damages to Srikakulam, Vizinagaram and Visakhapatnam Districts. About 1, 30, 225 People were evacuated and 149 relief camps were organized.

The Chief Minister listed out sector-wise damages due to Phailin cyclone. They include Agriculture – 5,233 Ha, Horticulture – 7,000 Ha, Boats – 226 Lost, 683 Fully and 377 Partially Damaged, Houses damaged – 1720.

The Chief Minister also said that later Heavy Rains/Floods lashed the State again from 21st to 27th October. He said this resulted due to Low Pressure in Bay of Bengal and affected 18.32 lakh Population in 5,715 Villages, 609 Mandals and 19 Municipalities in 16 Districts. The damages/impact included: People Evacuated – 1,38,248; Human Loss – 58; Persons Injured – 10; Persons Missing – 6; Cropped Area Affected (Hectare) – 13 Lakhs; Value Of Crop Loss – Rs.3,819.2 Crs; Houses Damaged – 57,919; Live Stock Lost – 2,418; Poultry Lost – 26,780; Horticulture Area Affected (Ha) – 53,222; Boats Lost – 1,735; Nets Lost – 3,980; Medium Irrigation Tanks Damaged – 284; Mi Tanks/ Li Schemes Damaged -3,981, R&B Roads Damaged (Kms) – 8,017 and Pr Roads Damage (Kms) – 10,388.

The Chief Minister requested for reimbursement of Rs.1145.46 Cr deducted from the financial assistance sanctioned by the High Level Committee, while releasing NDRF during 2009-10 to 2012-13, as requested already.

As far as crop loans are concerned, the Chief Minister said over 72.72 lakh hectares crop is damaged, since 2010 onwards – Laila, Jal, Thane, Nilam and Phailin Cyclones. He said the State Government has waived entire interest burden on crop loans of all affected farmers. Hence the Chief Minister requested for considering Total Waiver Of Crop Loans to the affected farmers, as they are unable to come back to normalcy due to the repeated calamities. He also sought more procurement centres by FCI and CCI to procure discoloured paddy, cotton and other crops. INN