The Telangana High Court on Tuesday, August 1, said there was no mention about the death of five persons in Jayashankar Bhupalpally district in the report presented by the State government on the recent floods.
A Bench of Chief Justice Alok Aradhe and Justice T. Vinod Kumar hearing a PIL plea on floods said the government had not stated anything about the imminent danger to people in low lying areas under Kaddem dam project, which was overflowing with flood water. The Bench instructed the government to file a separate report on the relief measures for the flood affected families.
The Bench also sought details of the search operations for missing persons and if the any helpline was created to report about missing persons. The Bench wanted the government to furnish details of the steps taken to offer psychological support to those who underwent trauma having lost property and family members.
Since the flood waters started receding, there was a possible outbreak of an epidemic. Hence, the government should take all measures to check spread of diseases, the Bench said. Special Government Pleader Harender Prasad read out the report presented by the government.
Forty-one lives were lost during the recent heavy rains that lashed the State resulting in floods. Highest number of deaths were reported in Mulugu district (15). While six died in Hanumakonda, four lost lives in Kumuram Bheem Asifabad and two in each of Mahabubabad, Mahbubnagar, Nizamabad and Suryapet districts.
One death was reported in each of Warangal, Vikarabad, Khammam, Karimnagar and Bhadradri Kothagudem districts. Different teams of State and Central governments, in combined operations, evacuated 8,196 persons to safer places from 81 villages, Revenue Secretary Rahul Bojja stated in the report.
While 240 houses were completely damaged, 6,433 got partially affected. The report stated that government had planned to conduct Post Disaster Need Assessment as per guidelines of State Disaster Mitigation Fund in consultation with National Disaster Management Authority. Due to heavy water inflows, 190 irrigation tanks breached and 168 roads got damaged.
The government decided to prepare Disaster Management Plans for all the districts by March of 2024. It was going to constitute State Disaster Response Force by identifying a separate reserve police battalion on the lines of National Disaster Response Force. Ten per cent SDRF grants (capacity building) would be earmarked for training various stakeholders. The government would also develop Disaster Risk Reduction road map for the State.
