Exact enumeration must to benefit real flood victims: Rosaiah

Andhra Pradesh chief minister K Rosaiah has directed Collectors of the five flood-affected districts to ensure that enumeration of damage caused to houses and other properties was done in a perfect and accurate manner so that help reached only the eligible persons.

Talking to district Collectors through a video-conference from the state Secretariat today, the chief minister said,  "a foolproof enumeration is essential to ensure that only the real victims got the benefit."

"We have also liberally increased the compensation amount for fully and partly damaged houses while we will also build new houses under Indira Aawas Yojana and other schemes. The number of houses to be built, each at a cost of Rs68,450, should be less than one lakh as per our estimate," Rosaiah told Collectors.

Besides the government many non-governmental organisations, corporates and individuals were coming forward in a big way to lend a helping hand for rehabilitating the flood victims, he said.

Referring to crop losses, the chief minister pointed out that it was tenant farmers in majority of cases who bore the brunt. Though as per rules only the landlord is eligible for compensation, it should actually reach the tenant farmer. "Act  as facilitators and, with the help of local revenue officials and public representatives, see that the landlords passed on the compen sation to the tenant farmers," Rosaiah said.

Noting that the recent floods were "unimaginably devastating", the chief minister hailed the entire government machinery for minimising the deaths.

"Seeing the gravity of the deluge, I wondered how people survived in the first place. The scene was so pathetic in places like Alampur, Mantralayam and Kurnool where people virtually came out of hell," Rosaiah observed.

In Mantralayam, such a flood was not recorded in the last 348 years. The Raghavendra Swamy Mutt maintained the 348-year-old flood record but never in history was such huge deluge recorded in the town, the Chief Minister pointed out.

The toll in the five flood-ravaged districts was 90 and the government paid Rs three lakh to the kin of each deceased.

The chief minister asked the Collectors to focus on rehabilitation works apart from improving the sanitation and drinking water supply.

Other ministers, chief secretary P Ramakanth Reddy and senior bureaucrats also attended the meeting.