East Godavari Collector D. Muralidhar Reddy on Tuesday told an Inter-Ministerial Central Team (IMCT) that the district had suffered losses of crops and infrastructure facilities to the tune of ₹2,442 crore due to floods in the Godavari and huge inflows into the Yeleru Irrigation System.
“The crop loss due to the Godavari floods and rains is estimated to be more than ₹422 crore while the loss of various infrastructure facilities belonging to the departments of Roads, Irrigation, Panchayat Raj, Rural Water Supply and Power is estimated to be above ₹2019.44 crore,” Mr. Muralidhar said to Saurav Ray, Joint Secretary from the Ministry of Home Affairs, who led the Central team.
In October, the floods due to heavy inflows into the Yeleru irrigation system caused damage of crops worth ₹322 crore. Mr. Muralidhar sought financial aid of ₹21 crore for repairing various irrigation facilities. Essential commodities worth ₹22 crore have been distributed to the families affected by the floods, he said.
On Tuesday morning, the six-member Central team comprising R.B. Kaul from the Ministry of Finance, Ayush Puniya from the Ministry of Rural Development and Sravan Kumar Singh from the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways visited the fields of agriculture, horticulture, vegetable and various irrigation sources that were damaged due to the floods and rains.
In Konaseema, accompanied by Joint Collector Ch. Kirti and Kothapeta MLA Ch. Jaggi Reddy, the team interacted with the farmers of banana, vegetables and various horticulture crops, which were under a sheet of water for more than 21 days. The district authorities presented a report to the team, stating that the horticulture crops, mostly banana fields, have been damaged in more than 4,335 hectares in the Konaseema region.
In Komararaju Lanka in Ravulapalem mandal, where the team visited the damaged fields, the crop damage has been reported in over 240 hectares. Farmers at Komararaju Lanka and Baduguvani Lanka have attributed the huge damage of the crops to the inundation of the crops for more than three weeks.
District Revenue Officer Ch. Sattibabu, Agriculture Department Joint Director K.V.S. Prasad, and Roads and Buildings Department Superintendent Engineer P.D. Vijaya Kumar accompanied the team during the field visit.
