Andhra has incurred Rs 3,759.97 cr loss due to rains: CM

Vijayawada, Dec 11: Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu today told the Central team, which has arrived to assess the damage caused by the recent spell of heavy rains, that it caused a loss of Rs 3,759.97 crore to the state and assistance from the Centre was needed to restore the normalcy.

Explaining the extent of damage due to unseasonal rains in Nellore, Chittoor and Kadapa districts, Naidu said the rainfall was 6-11 times higher than the normal.

Giving department-wise figures, he said agriculture incurred a loss of Rs 426.94 crore, horticulture Rs 335.27 crore, animal husbandry Rs 17.97 crore and handicrafts, textile industries Rs 4.77 crore. Water resources incurred a loss of Rs 818.29 crore, roads and buildings Rs 711.9 crore, electricity department Rs 35.05 crore, Panchayat Raj and Municipal and Urban Development Department Rs 589.54 crore.

Over 6,507 pucca houses and 17,089 huts were damaged due to the rains, Naidu said in an official release. Over 1.25 lakh people were shifted to relief camps. The government supplied free food and water packets to the affected people and over 12,000 bedsheets were supplied to the relief camps, he told the Central team.

He added that 25 kg of rice, 1 kg of dal, 1 kg of sugar and 1 kg of cooking oil were distributed to each family. Rs 2,000 was given to each family whose house has been washed away, he said. Meanwhile, in its report to the Inter-ministerial Central team on the prevailing drought conditions in the state, Andhra Pradesh government has requested Rs 2,000.56 crore to make the state 'drought-proof'.

Naidu said the government had declared 359 out of 670 mandals as drought-hit. Over five lakh hectares of farm land had become uncultivable during the Kharif season, the Chief Minister said.

PTI