Amaravati, Aug 20: Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu said both the Central and state governments should provide an helping hand to flood affected Kerala state. He said the Central govt should declare it as a national calamity . It was the responsibility of all to restore normalcy in Kerala.
Speaking to media persons at secretariat here today, the Chief Minister said that Andhra Pradesh extended assistance of nearly Rs 50 cr through all means including financial help, donations in cash and kind. He said that he spoke to Kerala Chief Minister twice and announced Rs 10 cr financial help. In addition as per the request of Kerala CM 2000 mt of rice would be supplied to Kerala at a cost of Rs 6 cr. The IAS, IPS, IFS officers association and AP secretariat employees association and NGOs associations and several other organisations came forward to donate one day wage towards flood relief in Kerala. He said MPs and MLC are donating one month basic salary towards Kerala flood relief besides MPLads funds.
The Chief Minister said AP has been receiving heavy rainfall for the past few days. He said Kunavaram in EG district received 275.7 mm rain fall in past 24 hours. He said East Godavari, West Godavari, Krishna and Visakha district were affected with heavy rainfall and floods. He said 16 relief camps were set up and 6330 people were shifted to relief camps in Eluru, Kovvur, Narasapur and Kukkunur. Medical camps were set up in flood affected regions.
The Chief Minister directed the officials to be alert and monitor the flood situation continuously to prevent loss of life and property.
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AP to provide water security to all:CM
Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu said smart water grid would be developed in Andhra Pradesh. He said priority would be given to rain water harvesting, water management and cost effective water supply. He said despite of deficit rainfall in rayalaseema region, the state govt is able to fill all the tanks in the region to meet both irrigation and drinking water needs.
Chief Minister expressing satisfaction over progress of various irrigation projects in the state on fast track, the Chief Minister said that the state govt spent Rs 56000 cr towards completion of irrigation projects in the past four years. He said 9 projects were inaugurated, 6 ready for inauguration and 29 projects nearing completion. Still the state govt needs 33,720 cr to complete the projects. He said 55.57 per cent of Polavaram project works were completed so far. He said if the Centre extends cooperation, Polavaram project would be completed as per schedule by 2019.
The Chief Minister said once all the ongoing 57 irrigation projects were completed as per schedule there would be no drought affected areas in the state as the govt could provide water security to all.
The Chief Minister said a target was set to provide water to 2 cr acres including 1 cr acres of horticulture. He said at present water is being supplied to 1.10 cr acres. He said all the 3500 cascades were filled and the ground water level increased by 2.3 metres. He said that he slept at the irrigation project sites to inspire officials to complete the project works on fast track. He stressed the need for developing smart water grid, cost effective water supply, water management and rainwater harvesting to provide water security to all.
