Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu on Tuesday, September 17 announced compensation for those who suffered losses due to the recent heavy rains and floods. He told reporters that the government will rebuild houses for those who lost their houses.
For every damaged house, Rs 25,000 will be paid and Rs 10,000 will be paid for each flooded house. For the families staying on the first floor, the government will pay Rs 10,000, CM Naidu said, adding that a compensation of Rs 25,000 each would be given to small traders affected by the floods.
The government will also pay Rs 3,000 each for two-wheelers and Rs 10,000 each for three-wheelers damaged in the floods. For affected fishermen, Rs 20,000 will be paid if their boat and fishing net are fully damaged. In case of partial damage, they will get Rs 9,000 each.
The government will give Rs 50,000 each for cattle. Paddy farmers will be paid Rs 10,000 per acre while cane growers will be paid Rs 25,000 each. Affected weavers will be provided Rs 15,000 each.
Chief Minister Naidu also announced financial assistance for affected Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs). For SMEs with a turnover of Rs 40,000 to Rs 1.5 crore will be given Rs 1 lakh and for those with a turnover of more than Rs 1.5 crore will be given Rs 1.5 lakh.
The Chief Minister alleged that the negligence and irregularities of the previous government had become a curse to the state and had the Budameru works been completed the state would not have faced this calamity.
Breaches to Budameru Rivulet had flooded several parts of Vijayawada city and other areas. Naidu said that the previous government had completely grabbed the land near Budameru and misused it to the maximum extent possible. He added that the state government was moving forward despite the calamity.
He said that boats were released when the Krishna river was receiving 11.43 cusecs of water due to the floods and it took almost 10 days to restore normalcy.
"Had the previous government been in power it would have taken six months or more to restore normalcy," he added.
Reiterating that the funds released for Polavaram and Rs 990 crore from the Panchayat Raj department have been diverted by the previous government, CM Naidu said that the expenditure too was not shown in the accounts. "Now we need to clear the dues amounting to Rs 1,650 crore for the grain farmers and a whopping Rs 10.5 lakh crore loans to be cleared," the Chief Minister added.