AP chief secretary holds review meeting on unseasonal rains

Andhra Pradesh Chief Secretary I Y R Krishna Rao today to reviewed the impact of unseasonal rain in the state in a meeting with state officials and also interacted with district collectors through video conferencing facilities.
According to an official statement issued here, Rao, along with Agriculture Minister Prathipathi Pulla Rao, held a meeting with officials of Disaster Management, Horticulture, Agriculture and Energy departments, to review the impact of unseasonal rain in the state, as instructed by Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu.With officials
Six people were killed and crops in more than one lakh hectares suffered damages due to unseasonal rain and hailstorm which lashed Andhra Pradesh, according to the statement.

The chief secretary instructed district collectors to pay ex-gratia immediately to the kin of those who died and said that the same norms adopted in cases related to Cyclone Hudhud may be applied to cases related to unseasonal rain as well.
As per initial reports, standing crops which were to be harvested in April were flattened by rain and strong winds, the statement said.
In total, six deaths were reported from Kurnool, Kadapa, and Ananthapuram districts, with two deaths reported in each district, the statement said.

The chief secretary instructed district collectors to send preliminary reports on crop damages due to unseasonal rain so that relief can be extended to farmers and ex-gratia can be paid to kin of the deceased, the statement said.

The Disaster Management Department has been asked to carry out random surveys of damages, while the Agriculture department has been instructed to deploy teams to enumerate crop damage as well as loss of livestock in order to furnish proposals for financial assistance to affected farmers, the statement said.
The chief secretary also briefed district collectors about revised norms of the National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF).