PM Narendra Modi Announces Rs. 1,000 Crores for Andhra Pradesh
VISAKHAPATNAM: Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who visited cyclone-battered Visakhapatnam today, has announced a Rs. 1,000-crore package to help Andhra Pradesh get back on its feet.
- The Prime Minister surveyed the extensive damage in and around Visakhapatnam, or Vizag as its known, in an aircraft accompanied by Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu.
- Mr Modi said technology had helped contain the crisis and that there was close coordination between the Centre and the state government to ensure casualties were minimised.
- At least 20 people were killed in Andhra Pradesh.
- Vizag, home to two million people and a massive naval base, is still without power in most parts. Telephone lines are down. There is just one working ATM in the city.
- The Chief Minister has been in Vizag since Monday to supervise his administration’s attempts to help restore basic services to Vizag, and ensure that essential supplies like food and milk are delivered to residents.
- He has warned that any official who is not working 24X7 towards that goal will be “dragged by the police, if necessary” to him.
- The airport at Vizag has been ripped apart by Cyclone Hudhud, which pounded Vizag on Sunday morning with a top windspeed of nearly 200 km per hour. The roof of the airport was ripped off and blown away.
- The PM inspected the damage at the airport. Flights are unlikely to operate for at least a week from here.
- The chief minister had earlier written to Mr Modi requesting that the Centre declare the cyclone a national calamity and provide Rs.2,000 crore as interim relief.
- There are long queues at petrol pumps though the authorities have announced that they have fuel supplies to last 15 days and so there is no need to panic or hoard supplies.
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