Opposition politicising flood impact: Minister

Minister for Agriculture S. Niranjan Reddy has criticised the politicisation of natural calamity of unprecedented floods in the State and said the Opposition parties are only interested in mudslinging when the Ministers, TRS legislators and other elected representatives are in the field extending flood relief to affected people.

The river Godavari had witnessed highest flood in over 500 years and two pump houses of the Kaleshwaram project were submerged in such an unprecedented flood, the Minister said in a statement issued here on Saturday. The Congress and BJP leaders had kept aside their common sense and were making meaningless allegations forgetting the fact that pump houses were constructed abutting the river courses or barrages.

Except for targeting the TRS Government the BJP elected representatives, particularly MPs, had forgotten to seek Centre’s assistance even for the namesake. The Centre was discriminating against Telangana in the matter of allocation of funds, procurement of paddy/rice, giving national status to any irrigation project, sanctioning medical colleges and universities, the Minister said.

On the Rythu Bandhu for the current kharif season, the Minister said ₹7,372.56 crore was credited to the bank accounts of about 64.95 lakh pattadar farmers with a landholding of 1.47 crore acres and the disbursement of investment support was nearing completion.

Meanwhile, at a meeting held at Asifabad, the Minister for Endowments directed the district authorities of Kumram Bheem-Asifabad to prepare comprehensive reports on farmer-wise crop damage in the recent rains and floods on loss/damage of property.