The Hindu : Central team report on cyclone loss soon

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Jan 21, 2004

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh - Vijayawada

Central team report on cyclone loss soon

By Our Staff Reporter

VIJAYAWADA, JAN. 20. The Central team which visited the cyclone-ravaged parts of the district on Tuesday conformed to the State Government's view of extensive damage to the crops and public property.

The team comprised Saroha (Rural Development), Manoharan (Director of Cotton Development Corporation), Mathur (Ministry of Health and Family Welfare) and Manoj Kumar (National Highway Authority of India). The district Collector, K. Prabhakar Reddy, the Joint Collector, Sampath Kumar, besides a number of officials accompanied the team during its seven-hour tour.

The team which interacted with victims of the affected villages and mandals would be submitting its report to the Centre in a week's time.

A comprehensive report on the loss would be submitted after compilation of the data collected from other districts like Guntur, East Godavari, West Godavari and Prakasam. The team visited some of the worst-affected places like Avanigadda, Nagaialanka, Vvuyuru, Thotlavalleru, Gudivada and saw for itself the damaged paddy , banana, sugarcane, betel leaves, turmeric crops. The team inspected the `Launchula revu' at Nagaialanka where fishermen families complained of large-scale destruction of their countrymade boats depriving them of their livelihood. At Avanigadda, the team visited a paddy purchase centre of the State Civil Supplies Corporation where procurement of the damaged crops was being carried out.

"As per our initial assessment it appears that there is extensive damage to the crops in the district though we are not in an immediate position to quantify the damage,'' Mr. Saroha and other members told reporters. "Besides agricultural crops, roads, power supply, houses, drains and canals have been damaged," Mr. Saroha said.

Mr. Manoharan said their study had revealed that besides paddy, other crops like sugarcane, bananas, turmeric and chillies, too, had been damaged. While admitting to persistent queries that the visit of the team was belated, he attributed it to administrative problems.

The Collector asserted that the purpose of the team's visit was in to supplement the plea for release of the Centre's grants. Mr. Reddy said the district administration had estimated the loss to around Rs. 400 crores.

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