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PM, Sonia to visit affected areas in AP
Syed Amin Jafri in Hyderabad |
December 28, 2004 00:03 IST
Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh will visit Andhra Pradesh on Wednesday, while Congress president Sonia Gandhi will make a trip on Thursday to take stock of the situation in the state in the wake of the devastation caused by the tsunamis that struck on Sunday.
The PM will reach Vijayawada and hold a meeting with senior officials to review the situation in the nine coastal districts, Chief Minister Dr Y S Rajasekhara Reddy said after returning from a visit to the affected villages in Nellore and West Godavari districts on Monday evening.
Singh will later make an aerial survey of the affected areas, namely West Godavari, Krishna and Guntur districts, Reddy said.
Sonia Gandhi will visit Prakasham and Nellore districts on Thursday, he said.
The CM said the tsunamis had claimed 90 lives in the state. However, official sources said, as per the details compiled by them, the toll was 102.
Krishna district was the worst affected with 35 deaths, followed by Prakasham, which reported 29 deaths. The remaining deaths were reported from Nellore, Guntur, West Godavari and East Godavari.
Reddy said 154 fishermen were still missing.
He said four helicopters and three ships of the navy and the coast guard were involved in rescue and relief operations in the affected areas.
The CM said the loss to property was estimated to be worth Rs 32.71 crore. In all, 118 villages in the nine coastal districts were affected and 1,349 houses were damaged. Besides, aquaculture farms over 400 acres, salt ponds over 3,250 acres and horticultural crops over 2,012 acres were also damaged.
Reddy said the state would seek Centre's assistance to construct 20,000 pucca houses in fishermen hamlets in the affected districts. Another 20,000 houses would be constructed with the state's funds, he said.
The CM said the families of those who perished in the disaster would get a compensation of Rs two lakh - Rs one lakh each from the state and the Prime Minister's Relief Fund.
Those fishermen who had lost their fishing boats and nets would be provided with financial assistance within a week to rehabilitate them, he added.