Hyderabad, Oct 8 :
There is a slight change in the Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, programme in the State. As is announced earlier, the Prime Minister is not completing his visit to Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka on Friday itself. As per the changed schedule, Dr Singh will start at New Delhi at 12 noon on Friday by a special flight and will land at the Gannavaram Airport near Vijayawada at 2.20 pm. After conducting an hour-long aerial survey of the flood-hit areas in the region, he will come back to Vijayawada at 3.20 pm and will take off from there immediately to arrive at Shamshabad Airport at 4.10 pm.
From the Airport he will drive straight to the Raj Bhavan to review the relief measures taken in the flood hit areas. For the overnight on Friday, he will stay at the Raj Bhavan. At 8.40 am on Saturday, the Prime Minister will leave for Karnataka for the aerial survey of the flood affected areas in that State, the Chief Minister, Mr K Rosaiah, informed media persons here on Thursday. On Sunday he will leave for New Delhi from the Shamshabad International Airport at 12.25, the Chief Minister said.
Mr Rosaiah said that he had till now not visited the flood-affected areas in the State as his visit will hamper the relief operations that are on in the areas. “After the situation improves, I will certainly visit all the areas that are affected and will also meet the victim families,” he said. He decried the Opposition parties “politicising the flood damage in the State. “The Opposition parties should stop viewing everything from political angle,” he observed.
Mr Rosaiah categorically denied any fault from the engineers in the damage to the barrages or bunds. “There is absolutely no fault from their side. All the engineers acted promptly to avert the damage to many dams and barrages,” he added.