Hyderabad: After the 2020 floods that occured in the city, one of the many claims by the state government was that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led Centre had not helped Telangana with funds.
Adding credence to that, Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) MLC and ex-MP Kalvakuntla Kavitha on Thursday put up a statement showing the state-wise details of assistance sought and funds release from the National Disaster Response Fund during 2021-22, in which Telangana was missing.
“The Centre never supported, the NDRF state-wise fund list was released and had no mention of any support to Telangana Govt during Hyderabad floods. It breaks my heart to see that the extent of Centre’s bias knows no bound,” said Kavitha, in a following tweet, after putting up the statement.
The state-wise list shows that a total of Rs 381.43 crore was released to 14 states in India, including Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Odisha, Tamil nadu, Gujarat and others.
Earlier, her brother and Telangana municipal administration and urban development minister KT Rama Rao (KTR) had also raised this issue in the state Assembly. He stated that no aid has been provided by the Centre for the mitigation and relief post the Musi river floods that took place in October 2020 in the city of Hyderabad.
“Some big leaders including union cabinet ministers came and visited the flooded areas back then. We expected them to bring some funds along with them. They came, took photos, expressed grief and demanded the state government to do this and that. But when Gujarat had floods, the Prime Minister himself went there and provided Rs 1000 crores aid to them. This is a matter of shame,” KTR remarked.
Several areas in Hyderabad were flooded last September when heavy rains lashed the city, and lakes got breached (and as homes were built in FTLs). Many homes of people in areas like Balapur, Osman Nagar and Toli Chowki were submerged for days. The rainfall disrupted normal life and thousands were even displaced, with the state government’s Disaster Response Force saving people in several areas.
The worst affected was Osman Nagar, where homes were flooded and submerged in water for months afterwards
