The Hindu : Front Page : Manmohan's aerial survey today

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Friday, Aug 11, 2006

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Manmohan's aerial survey today

Special Correspondent

Prime Minister to fly over Adilabad areas; the Krishna is rising

HYDERABAD: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is arriving here on Friday to undertake an aerial survey of the flood-hit areas in Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra even as a large number of villages and towns in Bhadrachalam and Konaseema areas have been under water for the past five days.

Dr. Manmohan Singh will not cover Khammam and East and West Godavari districts that were covered by Union Home Minister Shivaraj Patil and UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi on Wednesday.

Instead, he will fly over flood-ravaged areas around Pennaganga river, including Nanded in Maharashtra and Adilabad in Andhra Pradesh.

Chief Minister Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy said Dr. Manmohan Singh would arrive here at 1.30 p.m. and later fly over Nanded and Adilabad in a helicopter. He will return to the city at 5-30 p.m. and witness a power point presentation by officials on the flood damage at the airport before addressing a press conference. He will leave for New Delhi in the evening.

Talking to reporters here on Thursday, the Chief Minister expressed hope that Dr. Singh would announce some measures to persuade Maharashtra to take up the Pennganga project to contain the floods. The State Government, on its part, would seek assistance for repairing the 480-km-long Godavari embankments (Rs. 650 crores) and constructing similar bunds on the banks of Vamsadhara and Nagavali (Rs. 500 crores), which played havoc in Srikakulam recently.

Heavy inflows

The Chief Minister estimated the loss on all counts at over Rs. 1,000 crores and said this, however, was not the final figure since the full picture would unfold only after the floodwater receded.

Meanwhile, the Krishna started causing concern to the State administration as it started flooding in the wake of heavy rains in Maharashtra and heavy inflows from the Alamatti projects and two tributaries-- the Bhima and the Thungabhadra. Nearly six lakh cusucs of water was being released from Srisailam and Nagarjunasagar reservoirs. As a result, there was flooding in habitations in Krishna and Guntur districts below the Prakasam Barrage in Vijayawada.

Water level in the Godavari, however, fell. The river was flowing around the danger level of 53 feet near the temple town of Bhadrachalam. The level of water is likely to be steady for a day due to sizeable inflows from Sriramsagar project before receding further.

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