Hyderabad: Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) MLA T Harish Rao on Thursday, August 28 criticised the Congress government over mismanagement of floods in Medak and Kamareddy.
Rao visited flood affected areas in Medak and slammed Telangana chief minister A Revanth Reddy for not putting concerned officials on alert despite knowing that the India Meteorological Department (IMD) had issued a warning.
The former Telangana finance minister demanded that the government pay Rs 25 lakh ex gratia each to the families of the deceased, besides Rs 25,000 compensation to farmers who lost crops in the unprecedented rains.
He criticised Reddy for holding a review meeting on Musi beautification on Tuesday instead of preparing the administration for the impending rains.
He alleged that the CM’s negligence led to the loss of life and damage to agriculture. Referring to the death of Bestha Satyanarayana and Yada Goud, whose auto-rickshaw was swept away, the Siddipet MLA said that the two men clung to an electrical pole for hours and made repeated calls to officials and Congress leaders for help, but no assistance reached them.
He alleged that while cabinet ministers and the CM used helicopters even for short distances, the government failed to save the lives of the two victims. They were swept away when the pole was uprooted by flood waters.
“While people were suffering due to heavy rains, the chief minister was busy reviewing sports and other programmes which were not urgent. Even after the downpour, the government failed to provide safe drinking water to affected areas,” he said.
The former Telangana health minister said residents of Dhup Singh Thanda have been stranded since Tuesday night without food or drinking water, while villagers in Havelighanpur were forced to drink rainwater. He held the chief minister, his cabinet colleagues and officials responsible for the situation.
Later, Rao consoled the family members of Satyanarayana and Yada Goud, whose bodies have not yet been traced.
MLA Kotha Prabhakar Reddy, BRS leaders M Padma Devendar Reddy, Sheri Subhash Reddy and others accompanied him during the visit.
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