Central team for Vizag on Nov 25

• Interact with the affected people, various institutions, officials, NGOs
• The team will assess ‘Hudhud’ damage
• AP CM seeks Rs 2,000 crore assistance

Visakhapatnam: A high-power Central team will visit the City from November 25 to assess the ‘Hudhud’ damage. Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his visit here on October 14, two days later the super cyclone battered the north coast, had announced that a Central team would survey the disaster, after Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu sought assistance of Rs 2,000 crore. Modi had announced immediate release of Rs 1,000 crore.

Later the district administration submitted a detailed report on the damage to agriculture, educational institutions, industrial establishments, power transmission lines, roads and buildings and other infrastructure facilities.

The Central team, comprising nine senior officials, will tour for three days. It will be split into two to interact with the affected people, representatives of various institutions, officials, farmers and NGOs, who had taken part in the rescue and rehabilitation.

The administration will organise a photo/video exhibition on the damage. Before leaving for Delhi, the team will hold a review meeting with Collector N Yuvaraj and senior officials.

Yuvaraj at a meeting with heads of departments on Wednesday evening asked them to prepare a detailed report on the damage to be presented to the team. Local heads of Agriculture and Horticulture departments, APIIC and DIC attended the meeting. The meeting listed the places to be shown to the team.

The district incurred a loss of Rs 9,000 crore in ‘Hudhud, including industries of Rs 3,000 crore. Crops and horticulture plantations were destroyed over one lakh acres. Over 60,000 houses were damaged and 40,000 electrical poles were uprooted, including 20,000 in City. Andhra University suffered a loss of Rs 300 crore. The zoological park lost its green cover, as more than 80,000 trees were uprooted, according to initial estimates.