Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu urged the Inter-Ministerial Central Team (IMCT) on Tuesday to submit its report promptly and recommend substantial financial assistance following Cyclone Montha’s estimated Rs 6,384 crore damage to the state. In a detailed meeting at his camp office with the team led by Joint Secretary (Home) Pasumi Basu, Naidu outlined extensive destruction to housing, roads, power infrastructure, agriculture, aquaculture and handloom sectors across six severely affected districts including Konaseema, East Godavari, Eluru, Krishna, Prakasam and Bapatla. The IMCT completed field visits and praised the state government’s proactive disaster management efforts.
Utilizing the Real-Time Governance System (RTGS), the administration issued early warnings, conducted pre-emptive power shutdowns and evacuated over 1.92 lakh people from 22 districts to relief camps. Immediate financial assistance of Rs 3,000 was provided to 3.36 lakh affected families. The state has requested Rs 2,622 crore for urgent restoration of roads and power infrastructure. The Central team commended the timely evacuation of pregnant women and measures that prevented human casualties.
Naidu sought relaxed norms for procuring rain-damaged paddy, special support for cotton farmers with heavy losses and dedicated funding for coastal erosion projects totaling Rs 624 crore including Rs 323 crore for Uppada near Kakinada, Rs 203 crore near Visakhapatnam and Rs 98 crore near Srikakulam. Additional requests included Rs 11.77 crore for lightning warning systems and Rs 18.48 crore for forest fire prevention infrastructure.
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The Chief Minister highlighted that state bifurcation and previous financial challenges had depleted the State Disaster Response Fund and stalled Central schemes. He assured corrective measures are underway. The IMCT pledged to expedite its recommendations while the state government committed to submitting final damage estimates within two days.
The meeting was attended by Chief Secretary K Vijayanand and senior officials from Revenue, Agriculture, Water Resources, Finance and RTGS departments. The discussions underscored Andhra Pradesh’s critical need for immediate Central intervention to rebuild infrastructure and support affected communities.
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