Deputy Chief Minister Pawan Kalyan accused the previous YRSCP government of neglecting the Budameru canal and not focusing on small irrigation projects in the face of the ongoing devastation in the state due to incessant rainfall. Talking to ANI on Tuesday, Kalyan said, “The previous government was not able to take any effective action. They neglected the Budameru canal. We have assessed the situation in the Annamayya project. Small irrigation projects have also been ignored.”

He also mentioned that the state was badly hit due to continuous rainfall over the last four days and floods from Telangana worsened the situation. “The state was badly hit due to excessive rainfall. Special attention should be given to Vijayawada. We have deployed 262 Panchayati Raj teams for relief and rehabilitation,” he added.

Kalyan expressed his heartfelt condolences to the families of those who lost their lives in the floods and appealed to political parties to come together for relief. “I am contributing one crore rupees to the Chief Minister’s Relief Fund. Every citizen should help in such times. The government is spending Rs 80 crore per affected district. We need to create a master plan for each city to prevent future disasters,” he said.

The Indian Air Force (IAF) has intensified relief operations in flood-hit areas of Vijayawada district in Andhra Pradesh. According to the IAF, six Mi-17 and two Chetak helicopters have been scrambled to drop relief materials. So far, 50,000 kg of relief materials have been distributed in the NTR district.

(Based on information from the agency.)