Congress promises Rs 50,000 for flood-hit families in Hyderabad

TPCC president N Uttam Kumar Reddy and AICC Telangana in-charge Manicka Tagore had also promised a plan to face future disasters, including floods, among other things

Hyderabad: The GHMC elections seem to have triggered bidding for votes using flood relief for the affected families in Hyderabad. The Congress on Tuesday announced Rs 50,000 per affected family in the city, outbidding the BJP’s Rs 25,000 after the opposition had stopped the realistic interim relief of Rs 10,000 that the TRS government had already disbursed to 6.56 lakh families.

Releasing the Congress manifesto for the GHMC elections, TPCC president N Uttam Kumar Reddy and AICC Telangana in-charge Manicka Tagore had also promised a plan to face future disasters, including floods, among other things.

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“The TRS manifesto is nothing but a bunch of lies. The TRS has failed to fulfil promises it made since 2014. The ruling party must explain why it has not supplied free power to salons and free water to households,” he said, addressing the media after releasing the manifesto. He accused the TRS of delaying repairs to the city’s drainage system resulting in the death of over 100 people.

The manifesto also promises Rs 5 lakh and Rs 2.5 lakh to fully and partially destroyed houses respectively and an ex gratia of Rs 25 lakh to the family of each deceased. The party also promised to implement NDMA guidelines and to prepare a disaster management plan for Hyderabad besides conducting regular drills. Plans to provide rainfall forecasts on the basis of watersheds by delineating them on the Doppler Weather Radar Maps, with a lead time of 3-6 hours, were also announced. The party said it would alert citizens by early warning system and mobilise resources accordingly.

The Congress assured the GHMC voters that it would establish a Lakes Protection Authority with the help of residents welfare associations and protect them from being encroached. Regular desilting of nalas and construction of retaining walls and fencing would be undertaken.

The manifesto envisages emulating best practices and wishes to construct huge underground water storage facilities for effective flow regulation to prevent and minimise flooding as successfully done in Spain, Hong Kong and Japan.

The manifesto said the Congress, if elected, would bring Covid-19 treatment under Aarogyasri and improve Gandhi, Osmania, Niloufer and other hospitals, and ensure free local transportation for women, students, divyangans and senior citizens in Metro, MMTS and RTC buses. Other promises include making Hyderabad garbage-free by 2022 with landfills to be done away by 2023, developing Musi riverside into a tourist attraction by reviving a network of lakes in its catchment area, giving Rs 8 lakh to families which have a plot to construct a house and Rs 4 lakh if they have a single-bedroom house and want to construct an additional room. The party also promised a waiver of property tax for all ex-servicemen, war widows, and disabled soldiers.

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