Hyderabad: The AP government has requested the Centre for an immediate release of Rs 300 crore as advance allocation from the National Disaster Response Fund, to take up relief works in the aftermath of the heavy rains in the state.
In an interim memorandum to the Centre on damages and losses due to the recent heavy rains, the AP government said the losses to various sectors were of the order of Rs 1,142crore.
The advance allocation from the NDRF may be released immediately in view of the poor financial position of the state and the negative balance in the state disaster response fund (SDRF) account for the last three to four years when the state faced a series of disasters — like the Hudhud cyclone in October 2014, heavy rains in November 2015, and the drought in major parts of the state after the reorganisation of the state in 2014.
The AP government requested the Centre to arrange a visit of the inter-ministerial central team to the state.
The state government told the Centre that the final assessment of damage caused by the rains to housing, agriculture, horticulture, fisheries, infrastructure and other sectors was in progress and expected to be completed in a couple of days.
The memorandum said the heavy rains and resultant floods caused major damage to various sectors, particularly in Guntur district. It had promptly responded to the instant calamity and taken all possible measures to mitigate the adverse effects of the calamity and restored normalcy in the affected areas, the state government said in its note to the Centre.
