The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh / Hyderabad News : Parties seek higher Central aid

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Friday, Oct 30, 2009
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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad

Parties seek higher Central aid

Staff Reporter

Leaders of Congress, TDP, PR, CPI(M), BJP separately call on Central team

TDP seeks assistance permissible beyond purview of relief manual
BJP favours better flood monitoring system, particularly during August-October

— Photo: G. Krishnaswamy

Presenting Plea: The TDP delegation submitting a memorandum to the Central team members in Hyderabad on Thursday.

HYDERABAD: Leaders of the Congress, Telugu Desam Party, Praja Rajyam, CPI(M) and BJP separately called on the Central team that visited the flood-affected areas in the State here on Thursday and requested it to recommend the maximum possible assistance from the Centre.

Congress leaders urged the visiting team to suggest to the Centre to immediately release Rs. 1,000-crore assistance announced by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh so that rehabilitation work could be intensified. The damage caused to irrigation projects and roads was massive and it required huge sum for repairs, they explained.

Appeal to Opposition

They requested the team to recommend sanction of Rs. 12,000 crore loss estimated by the State as grant and appealed to the Opposition parties not to politicise relief and rehabilitation works.

Leaders of the TDP urged the team to recommend assistance permissible beyond the purview of the relief manual. They sought the entire loss estimated as assistance. Proposed compensation of Rs. 6,000 to 8,000 per hectare for damaged crops was not sufficient as farmers had invested Rs. 8,000 per acre in cultivating crops like paddy, they said.

Delegations from Praja Rajyam, CPI(M) and BJP alleged that the State government had failed in assessing loss comprehensively. The PR put the loss at about Rs. 30,000 crore and urged the Central team to recommend at least Rs. 20,000 crore assistance. Waiver of all agricultural loans in affected districts and issuance of interest-free crop loans and inputs were sought by the CPI(M).

Twin disasters

Leaders of the BJP said the State had witnessed drought and floods in quick succession and was in need of extensive assistance. They stressed for a better flood monitoring system, particularly during August-October period, when Maharashtra and Karnataka release huge quantity of water into the State’s projects from their own projects.

The party also sought an assistance of Rs. 200 crore for revival of Srisailam right bank power project. All the political parties sought reconstruction of houses, weavers’ sheds and compensation to small traders.

The delegations were led by N. Tulasi Reddy (Congress), N. Janardhan Reddy (TDP), C. Ramachandraiah (Praja Rajyam), Y. Venkateswar Rao (CPI-M) and Bandaru Dattatreya (BJP).

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