Central team coming today to assess drought

By Our Special Correspondent

HYDERABAD, AUG. 5. A Central team appointed to assess the damage caused by drought and recommend financial assistance to Andhra Pradesh will arrive here tomorrow.

Members of the team will be divided into two groups to tour the worst-hit districts for two days on August 7 and 8. One team will visit Ranga Reddy, Mahabubnagar and Kurnool and the other Cuddapah, Nellore and Prakasam districts.

The Minister for Civil Supplies, Dr. N. Janardhan Reddy, appealed to all parties on Sunday to support the Government in presenting a correct picture of the drought to the Central team without giving scope for politics to come in the way.

He made this appeal at a press conference along with the TDP spokesman, Mr. R. Chandrasekhar Reddy, to rebut the criticism by the Congress Legislature Party leader, Dr. Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy, that Ministers were preferring the air- conditioned comfort of their chambers instead of touring the districts and alleviating the suffering of farmers.

Dr. Reddy said the Chief Minister had toured almost every drought-hit district while Ministers were staying put in their respective districts to coordinate relief work. The Government was issuing the necessary instructions for supplying drinking water and fodder but was maintaining a low key to avoid attracting provisions of the code of conduct for the panchayat elections.

Listing out various drought relief measures, he said that the Government had released Rs. 175 crores, persuaded Karnataka to release water from the Alamatti dam, increased power supply for agriculture from 9 hours to 12 hours and requested the Prime Minister, Mr. Atal Behari Vajpayee, to immediately allot six lakh tonnes of rice to the State. Three lakh tonnes of rice had already been despatched to the needy districts.

Mr. Chandrasekhar Reddy said the CLP leader's attack on the Government was aimed at diverting public attention from the group rivalry within the Congress.

The party was cutting a sorry figure with its leaders staging demonstrations outside Gandhi Bhavan holding rival groups responsible for the defeat in Kurnool district.

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Section  : Southern States
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