Narayanpet: Flood-hit villagers stop Minister's convoy, demand aid

Narayanpet: The farmers of Hindupur village in Makthal mandal of Narayanpet district stopped the convoy of Excise Minister Srinivas Goud on Monday and demanded that the government pay them immediate compensation for the crop loss they incurred due to unexpected floods.

The Minister, while on his way to visit the flood-affected areas in Narayanpet district, was stopped by the villagers who poured out their woes to the Minister and said that they have lost everything to the floods.

In response to this, the Minister assured them all help from the government and said that very soon, the officials would assess the crop loss and based on that, the government would immediately release the compensation to farmers.

Later, the Minister visited the flood-affected villages of Hindupur, Krishna and Vasu Nagar and assured the affected people of all help. "The upstream areas of Jurala are receiving heavy inflows from Narayanpur and Almatti dams. The flood waters from both Bheema and Krishna rivers are rising with every passing hour because of which, crops on largescale have been destroyed in the low-lying areas of Krishna River. We have directed the concerned mandal-level officials, the NDRF and the police to be alert and take all necessary measures so that no one is impacted adversely. So far, there is no loss of life in the flood-affected areas, but there is huge crop loss due to inundation. We are keeping a watch on the situation and providing all necessary rehabilitation needed for the people," informed the Minister.

The Minister directed the concerned mandal Tahsildars to immediately evacuate people from the flood-affected villages and provide temporary shelters to them.

The Minister had also directed the concerned revenue officials to immediately prepare a report on the expected crop loss and loss of households and other assets of people and submit a report based on which, the government would release necessary financial help to the affected people.

The Minister also instructed the Health department officials to keep stocks of medicines in case of spread of diseases and directed them to provide necessary healthcare services to the affected. At the same time, he gave directions to the revenue and other officials to provide food, drinking water and other necessary facilities to people of the affected region.

Member of Parliament Srinivas Reddy, Makthal MLA Rammohan Reddy and District Collector S Venkatr Rao also visited the flood-affected areas along with the Minister and assured all necessary to the affected.