Union Minister Kishan Reddy visits flood-hit areas in Telangana, assures Centre’s help

Hyderabad, Aug 8 (PTI) Telangana BJP president and Union Coal Minister G Kishan Reddy on Sunday visited flood-hit areas of Khammam district of the state and assured the people that the Narendra Modi government would fully support those affected in every possible way.

He said the Centre has told the Telangana government to first use the Rs 1,345 crore available in the State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF) to help the flood-hit people.

The amount is available with the state as an advance from the Government of India, he said.

“Soon after the havoc caused by heavy rains and flood, Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke to Telangana Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy. PM Modi asked him (Revanth Reddy) to utilise the advance of Rs 1,345 crore in the SDRF. There should be no politics over flood relief,” Kishan Reddy said, after visiting the Munneru flood victims in Khammam district on Sunday.

As many as 29 people lost their lives in the recent heavy rains and flooding in Telangana.

The state government has urged the Centre to declare the recent spell of heavy rains and flood in the state as a national calamity and to release immediate assistance of Rs 2,000 crore.

It has put the losses at Rs 5,438 crore as per preliminary estimates, due to the rains and floods.

Kishan Reddy, who visited and assessed the flood-affected areas of Dhamsalapuram and Thirumalapalem in Khammam, said he interacted with people affected by the devastating floods and inquired about the flood relief and rehabilitation efforts.

In a post on ‘X’ he said “Also learned that the victims were not receiving adequate support from the state government.”

Khammam witnessed unprecedented floods, rendering a lot of people homeless.

Both the state and the Central governments would stand with the victims and render all assistance, the Union Minister assured.

Kishan Reddy also promised to build a retaining wall along the Munneru stream in the surrounding area to prevent future flooding.

He visited the relief camp at Agraharam Colony and interacted with the displaced people. He distributed relief material and blankets to them.

Telangana Revenue Minister Ponguleti Srinivas Reddy, BJP MPs Eatala Rajender, Konda Vishweshwar Reddy and other officials were present.