Central Team meets Telangana CS Somesh Kumar

Hyderabad: Chief Secretary Somesh Kumar IAS informed the central team that the state government has taken all measures to minimize loss of lives and property arising out of the recent floods in the state. The five-member inter-ministerial team led by Praveen Vasishta, joint Secretary Government of India was given a PowerPoint presentation and briefed about the extent of damage caused due to the floods in the state. A photo exhibition was arranged to depict the damages caused by the floods.    

 Officials of Irrigation, Municipal Administration, R&B, GHMC, Water Board, Agriculture, Energy, and Panchayat Raj interacted with the central team and gave an overview of the loss incurred in the state.  Officials informed that there was excess rainfall during the last ten days which has resulted in flooding.  Though there were rains in the entire state excessive damage was in and around Hyderabad and the neighboring districts adjoining the city. Breaches to three major tanks coupled with flooding in the Musi river resulted in the low-level areas being inundated.  

Damage to public infrastructure was enormous and the state government had already made a preliminary assessment of the damage.  While the loss to crops was estimated at Rs 8633 crores, loss to roads was estimated to be around Rs 222 crores.  The loss to GHMC was estimated to be around Rs  567 crores.

The state government has released Rs 550 crores for immediate flood relief.  Food packets were supplied to more than two lakh people. One kilogram of bleaching powder and three lakh chlorine tablets were supplied to the affected people.  Fifteen substations that were submerged were brought into service within 48 hours.  

Principal Secretary Municipal Administration Arvind Kumar, Principal Secretary, Principal Secretary, Irrigation Rajat Kumar, Principal Secretary R&B Sunil Sharma, Secretary Agriculture Janardhan Reddy, Secretary Panchayat Raj Sandeep Kumar Sulthania, Secretary Disaster Management Rahul Bojja, GHMC Commissioner Lokesh Kumar, Water Board MD Dana Kishore, TSSPDCL CMD Raghuma Reddy, and other officials participated in the meeting.