AP hikes flood relief rate for farmers

Naidu said after the meeting that, though the State had put losses due to floods at Rs 2,235 crore in the memorandum submitted to Vajpayee, the figure might go up in view of fresh reports of damage from other parts of the State. He said reports were still coming in.

The Cabinet revised compensation to farmers who lost over 50 per cent of their crops. Compensation for damaged jowar has been increased to Rs 750 per hectare (ha), and Rs 1,000 per ha for paddy, maize, groundnut, red gram, sunflower and soyabean,and Rs 1,250 for cotton, sugarcane, turmeric, banana, chillies and flowers. Relief for mango, cashewnut, sapota, guava, pomegranate and ber will be Rs 2,800 per ha, while compensation for each damaged coconut tree will be Rs 150. All fields which were sandcast or suffered soil erosion will earn compensation at Rs 2,500 per ha.

Earlier, compensation for paddy and other foodgrain was Rs 650 per ha, for all commercial crops Rs 1,000 and for cotton Rs 1,250 per ha. Claiming the level of relief was unprecedented, Naidu took a dig at Congress leaders for criticising his Government. “They never bothered to distribute relief immediately after disaster struck. We are much ahead of them in all aspects,” he said.

The Cabinet also constituted a seven-member committee to study aspects of the Krishna floods. It consists of Y.K. Murthy, retired chairman of the Central Water Commission (CWC), J. Purushottam, retired chief engineer, M. Venkat Rao, CWC member, Prof. Subhash Chandra of IIT, Delhi, N.K. Sharma, retired CWCmember, Ramakistayya, chief engineer of AP State Electricity Board, and a computer expert. The irrigation chief engineer will be the convenor.

Its terms of reference include investigating whether outflow at Srisailam and Nagarjunasagar dams and Prakasam barrage was released appropriately, whether irrigation manuals were followed and whether dam safety panels’ recommendations were strictly implemented. Another panel, headed by P. Sitapati Rao, retired chief engineer of irrigation, was constituted to monitor restoration of vulnerable reaches in the flood banks of the Krishna, Godavari, Pennar, Vamsadhara and Swarnamukhi. It will also identify encroachments onto the flood banks.

The third committee, headed by the State chief secretary, will supervise reconstruction of the retaining wall at Srisailam Power House.