HYDERABAD: A Central team will arrive here on Tuesday to assess the extent of damage in the five flood-hit districts -- Krishna, Prakasam, Guntur, East and West Godavari.

The team is expected to visit the districts in groups for three days.

"This is the first positive response from the Prime Minister on the memorandum submitted to him by Chief Minister Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy," said Finance Minister K. Rosaiah and Revenue Minister D. Prasada Rao.

Speaking to reporters after a review of the relief operations by Dr. Reddy here on Saturday, the Ministers said Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil, who heads the National Calamities Contingency Fund, was likely to arrive on Monday.

The Chief Minister opposed ad hoc solutions to the drainage system in the delta and ordered that a committee of irrigation engineers be constituted to work out a permanent solution.

Mr. Rosaiah said the meeting had decided to distribute 20 kg of rice and 5 litres of kerosene each to the families in the marooned villages. The Agriculture Department was asked to prepare a contingency plan for sowing alternative crops in the affected areas by supplying seed at 50 per cent subsidy.

Water recedes

Meanwhile, in Chirala, water receded by 1.5 ft. Water continued to be stagnated in Krishna, Guntur and West Godavari.

Disaster Management Commissioner Preeti Sudan revised the estimates of the property loss to Rs. 1,455 crore.

The death toll reached 31.

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