Montha Slaps AP With a Loss of Rs 5,265 Crore
Agriculture sector suffers ₹829 crore damage; Roads and Buildings face ₹2,079 crore loss — timely preparedness helped prevent casualties, says Chief Minister.
Amaravati: Andhra Pradesh was able to minimise the impact of the Montha cyclone through efficient use of technology and coordinated action by government departments, Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu has said.
Addressing the media in Amaravati on Thursday, he said advanced planning played a crucial role in reducing the damage, which could otherwise have been massive.
On preventive efforts and compensation, the CM said rehabilitation centres were set up immediately after cyclone alert came, and medical camps were also set up swiftly. As per preliminary estimates, the state suffered a loss of `5,265 crore, including `2,079 crore in agriculture, horticulture, aqua and roads and `207 crore in the power and water resources sector.
Naidu said paddyfields in several districts were still waterlogged. A report would be sent to the central government on cyclone losses. On the other hand, 90 per cent of the reservoirs in the state were full and groundwater levels increased at several mandals.
“The state successfully faced the challenge of Montha with technology-driven monitoring in real time and by adopting best practices. I had faced challenges from several cyclones, but this time the administration was successful in preventing loss of life and property, with advanced warning, alerts and data-driven decision making,” he asserted.
The CM, praising officials right from the RTGS centre to the village secretariat, ministers, MPs and MLAs, said, “With a team spirit, the state government minimised the cyclone loss and instilled confidence among the people. Officials at the RTGS centre, using Data Lake, guided the officials at the field level and ensured speedy restoration of power supply. There was no disruption to mobile services.”
Some 602 drones, he said, were also used to monitor the water bodies and through the dedicated Mana Mitra app, “we monitored the usage of drones.” As many as 1.1 crore alert messages were sent to the people. The police wireless system was used for communication in cyclone-affected areas.
He said the successful handling of Montha should be taken as a case study. “The committed work of both the officials and the people's representatives won the appreciation of the people. With prior planning, weeds in canals were removed to prevent submergence of crops during the cyclone. Officials cleared the uprooted trees and electric poles in real time and restored the power supply immediately. The alert mechanism helped to prevent loss to property.”
Secretary to RTGS, Katamneni Bhaskar, gave a PowerPoint presentation on the cyclone alerts and monitoring from RTGS in real time for effective handling of cyclone challenges. Chief secretary K Vijayanand and other officials were present.
