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.