Congress demands Rs 25,000 for flood victims

Vijayawada (NTR District): Andhra Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) president Dr Sake Sailajanath demanded that the government should pay Rs 25,000 for every family affected by the floods. On Monday, he visited Yelerupadu, Kukkunuru, which are Polavaram submerged areas, along with a team of Congress leaders.

The PCC president demanded the State government to bring pressure on the Central government to announce the floods as national calamity to get additional help for the victims. 'The flood victims should be paid the arrears of NREGS amount immediately.'

He criticised the people's representatives for enjoying in airconditioned rooms giving instructions to the officials from there when the people here were struggling. The PCC chief said the government had miserably failed to provide even basic necessities like milk and edible oil to the flood victims. Various island villages were still marooned, he noted.

Polavaram displaced mandals of VR Puram, Chinturu, Etapaka and Kunavaram villages in Alluri Sitarama Raju district are in deep water.

Referring to the demands by the Congress, PCC chief Sailajanath said the flood victims should be given Rs 10,000 compensation for loss of cattle and Rs 25,000 for each house damaged in floods. His other demands include payment of ex-gratia of Rs 10 lakh to village panchayats in seven mandals, construction of new houses for them and payment of compensation for crop loss for Girijans and non-Girijans. Necessary precautions should be taken to prevent spread of epidemics, he said.