By IANS,
Hyderabad: Angry over tardy relief operations, flood victims in two towns Sunday stopped the convoy of Chief Minister K. Rosaiah.
A large number of people in the flood-devastated Alampur town in Mahbubnagar district stopped the chief minister’s convoy as he began his first ground visit since the natural calamity hit parts of the state Oct 2.
Standing on an open vehicle along with some state ministers, the chief minister was going around the town when a group of victims stopped the convoy, asking him to get down and see their damaged houses in the interior areas.
Raising slogans of “CM down down”, the victims had a heated argument with the policemen and the chief minister’s security personnel, who had a tough time controlling the crowd. Some policemen also had to use mild force to make way for the VIP convoy.
“How will he know our plight by sitting in his vehicle? He should get down and come with us to see our houses,” said a flood victim in the town, which was submerged in the floods in the Krishna river – the worst in 100 years.
“There is nobody to solve our problems. The chief minister was so far, making only aerial visits and today he is making a ground visit but not meeting us,” complained another victim.
Later, in an attempt to pacify the victims, Rosaiah addressed them, promising to do provide all possible help. “I have come to know your problems and I will do whatever is required to not only compensate your losses but also to see that normalcy is restored here,” he said.
The chief minister promised to rebuild damaged houses and provided new home for those who lost their houses.
Rosaiah had to face a similar situation in Kurnool town, which bore the brunt of the floods. The victims tried to tell him their tale of woes. The chief minister said his government did its best in the face of unprecedented heavy rains and floods to keep the loss to human lives at the minimum.
After a night-halt in Kurnool, the chief minister will visit Nandyal town, which too was inundated. He will then travel to Guntur and Krishna, two of the worst-hit districts.
The floods claimed 65 lives in five districts, inundating several towns and 500 villages, affecting over 1.5 million population, rendering half a million people homeless and damaging houses, public infrastructure and crops.
According to the state government’s initial estimates, Andhra Pradesh suffered damages to the tune of Rs.12,666 crore.