YS Jagan announces Rs 150 crore for flood protection wall in island villages of River Godavari

RAJAMAHENDRAVARAM: Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy on Tuesday announced Rs 150 crore for the construction of a flood protection wall near the islands in Godavari river. The 3.5 km-long proposed flood protection wall would prevent the Pottilanka, Thanelanka, Kunalanka, Vivekananda Varadhi and Kondukuduru Lanka from flooding from the River Godavari.

On the second day of his visit to four flood-hit Godavari districts, YS Jagan visited the Gurajapulanka and Ramalyapeta in Mummidiavaram mandal of Dr BR Ambedkar Konaseema district and interacted with the flood-affected victims. Nagaveni, a resident of Kunalanka village, who had suffered losses due to the floods, thanked the Chief Minister for his proactive and empathetic response towards the flood-affected families in Godavari region for the last four years.

The Chief Minister said that the officials would prepare estimates for the construction of the flood protection wall within ten days and finalise the tenders within a month. He asked the officials to submit a report within two months after commencing the construction work on the flood protection wall.

YS Jagan recalled that a third emergency warning was issued in Kunalanka and other island villages when the inflows into River Godavari reached 16 lakh cusecs. Drawing a parallel between the previous TDP regime and the YSRCP, he alleged that when floods affected the Godavari region, the TDP Government had been involved in publicity programmes and ignored the plight of the flood-affected victims. After YSRCP came to power, financial assistance and other services were provided to the flood victims through utilising the services of village/ward secretariat, village clinics and volunteers, he said.

The Chief Minister said that all necessary measures were being taken to provide compensation by the end of August for the farmers whose crops were damaged due to the floods on the River Godavari. The State Government had given a lot of importance to transparency and the lists of farmers whose crops were damaged would be displayed in Rythu Bharosa Kendaram (RBKs) for a social audit on crop loss. The District Collectors would display the lists in the next two days at RBK, he said.

"A financial assistance of Rs 2,000 is provided to the flood-affected families, apart from supplying the essential commodities like milk and vegetables. In addition, Rs 10,000 is also provided to those people whose houses were damaged and asked the officials to provide Rs 10,000 for each thatched house," YS Jagan said.