Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Wednesday approved the release of Rs 229 crore to storm-hit Andhra Pradesh to provide relief to the affected people. Further assistance to the state will be provided from the National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF) based on the report of Inter-Ministerial Central Team (IMCT), an official statement said.
Two districts -- Srikakulam and Vizianagaram -- were severely affected due to cyclonic storm ‘Titli’ on October 11.
The central government has provided full support to Andhra Pradesh by mobilising logistics to supplement the efforts of the state government to deal with the situation effectively, the statement added.
The logistics support provided included deployment of adequate teams of NDRF, Indian Air Force and Coast Guard helicopters, Navy and Coast Guard personnel along with necessary rescue equipment.
This comes amid allegations by the state government that the Centre was not doing enough with Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu telling reporters in New Delhi last week that the Centre was yet to disburse funds to help the state despite his repeated requests.
A delegation from the central government led by Home Ministry Joint Secretary Sanjeev Kumar Jindal had visited Srikakulam district to take stock of the damage caused by Cyclone Titli in the state's Uddanam region on October 25, after which the seven-member team met with Naidu in the state’s capital Amaravati on October 26.
Jindal said that the team was satisfied with rescue and relief operations that were carried out by the state government and said that they would submit a detailed report to the Centre. Naidu told the team that they had calculated a total loss of Rs 3,673.10 crore that was incurred due to the cyclone and demanded that the Centre act quickly in providing financial aid.
During the central team’s visit, many locals expressed their helplessness to the delegation as they had lost years of hard work, with coconut and cashew trees being uprooted, and said that their future was uncertain as it would take several years to plant and grow the trees again.