Sonia assures AP of all possible help

Hyderabad,  Oct 5 :

 UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi on Monday  undertook an aerial survey of the flood-hit  districts  of  Kurnool and Mahaboobnagar districts in  Andhra Pradesh. Sonia  Gandhi, after undertaking an aerial survey   of the  two worst affected districts in the state where the swollen river Krishna  and  Tungabhadra   wreaked havoc, assured Andhra Pradesh to provide all possible help to meet the situation.  The  UPA  chairperson hoped that  normalcy would soon  return  to  the state. She further advised  the state government to take all precautionary measures to  hold  a check  over the  loss of life  and  crops in Vijayawada and surrounding areas along the banks  of river Krishna. She was accompanied  by Union Home Minister P Chidamabaram,  Andhra Pradesh  state  Chief Ministe K Rosaiah,  Congress general secretary and Andhra Pradesh in-charge M. Veerappa Moily and state Congress president D. Srinivas during her  aerial  survey  of  the  flood hit  areas.

Sonia   inquired the   state officials and  the  CM  about the severity of the flood  and  the damage  caused  by the  flood waters. Briefing  Sonia Gandhi  on the devastation caused by  floods in the state, Chief Minister K Rosaiah said   “The Srisailam reservoir across river Krishna received unprecedented inflows of 25.40 lakh cusecs from Tungabhadra.  River  Krishna  has  never  received such flash inflows in the last hundred years.”

Explaining  further  he  said `` the  Srisailam Right Bank Canal power house (770 MW) was  inundated and damaged. Electrical installations at several places were also damaged causing total disruption of power supply to hundreds of villages.’’ Referring  to the  relief measures,  he  said  that the  state government has initiated all steps to provide relief to the people and an all-party meeting was held to apprise the leaders of the situation.

 Chief  Minister K Rosaiah  giving details  about the of  loss of lives  and  damage  to the  crops and  houses  sought  for  immediate Central assistance.  He  further  requested  the   Centre  to  declare the floods in Andhra Pradesh  as  a  national  calamity. The  UPA  chairperson  lauded  the efforts  of  the state  government  in carrying out the  relief  measures and  hoped  that  they  would  continue  the relief  measures  in  the  flood  hit  areas till normalcy is  restored.

Gandhi later left for Bellary along with Chidambaram for an aerial survey of flood-hit areas in Karnataka. The worst floods in the Krishna river in 100 years have caused widespread devastation in five districts of Andhra Pradesh, killing 49 people, rendering over 400,000 homeless and damaging crops over thousands of acres. Earlier  when Sonia  Gandhi  along  with  Union Home Minister   P Chidambaram reached   Hyderabad, Chief Minister  K Rosaiah, Revenue  Minister  Dharmana Prasada Rao  and  PCC president  D Srinivas  received them at the  airport.