Telangana moves into restoration mode, Central team to tour from Monday

Upon submission of a final memorandum by the State government, the same team will visit the State again for a detailed assessment of the damage and to make a final recommendation for admissibility of additional central assistance for the floods.

Hyderabad: Even as the State intensified its relief and restoration efforts after the disastrous floods that swept normal life off track in several districts, the union Ministry of Home Affairs has decided to depute an Inter-Ministerial Central team to tour the State from Monday for an on-the-spot first hand assessment of the damage and relief works carried out by the State administration.

Upon submission of a final memorandum by the State government, the same team will visit the State again for a detailed assessment of the damage and to make a final recommendation for admissibility of additional central assistance for the floods. The team will also recommend whether the disaster can be considered to be of ‘severe nature’.

---

The team will be led by Kunal Satyarthi from the National Disaster Management Authority and will comprise representatives from the Ministries/Departments of Agriculture, Finance (Department of Expenditure), Jal Shakti (Department of Water Resources), Power, Road Transport and Highways and the National Remote Sensing Centre, Department of Space.

A memorandum from the Ministry on the deputation of the team has also asked for details of allocation, release of funds and expenditure incurred during 2019-20, 2020-21, 2021-22 and 2022-23 under various schemes or programmes implemented by each ministry or department in Telangana.

On the other hand, with rains taking a break and the flood waters gradually receding in most places, the official machinery has moved into restoration mode, with aid being extended to flood victims in relief centres in the form of dry rations and clothes apart from house cleaning and cooking utensils until the situation stabilizes. Medical officers have been asked to conduct fever surveys in villages that were flooded, while officials from different departments are inspecting damaged houses, bridges and the sanitation work that is being taken up. Medical camps are also being organized in the villages.

Meanwhile, the water level in the River Godavari at Bhadrachalam, which had reached 56 feet on Saturday by 10 pm, dipped to 50.40 feet at 7 pm on Sunday. Though the third level warning has been revoked, the water is still above the second warning level.

In Mulugu, among the most affected districts, Minister Satyavathi Rathod confirmed 16 deaths apart from extensive damage to properties, crops and livestock in areas like Kondai, Dodla, Malyala, Medaram, Narlapur and Project Nagar, where numerous homes were washed away and roads were damaged. In Mulugu alone, the rains have filled 805 tanks and ponds to capacity, with over 70 either fully or partially damaged.

With the rains hitting the State at a time when sowing operations were gathering pace, crops were affected early at the germination stage in several districts including Mulugu, Bhupalpally, Nizamabad and Adilabad. Officials are making efforts to reach out to affected farmers by ensuring seed availability after assessing the requirement. The crop coverage was close to 70 lakh acres in the State by the time heavy rains lashed different districts in north Telangana.

On the other hand, a new headache is intensifying for farmers, especially in the erstwhile Karimnagar district, where the floods have left huge piles of sand in agriculture fields. Agriculture officials said sand had accumulated in about 640 acres of paddy and cotton fields in Karimnagar district alone.