Congress demands high-level committee to enumerate flood losses

FREEDOM PRESS BUREAU
Hyderabad, Oct 18: The Congress party on Sunday demanded that the Telangana Government constitute a high-level committee to enumerate the extent of damages caused to private properties due to heavy rains and floods in different parts of Hyderabad.

Former Minister and ex-Leader of Opposition in Telangana Legislative Mohammed Ali Shabbir, along with Hyderabad Congress Minorities Department Chairman Sameer Waliullah, TPCC Spokesperson Syed Nizamuddin, senior leader Ashwaq Mohammed Khan and others, visited the rain affected areas in Malakpet. They also distributed food packets among the affected people at Imperial Function Hall, Malakpet. They also had an interaction with the people on the problems being faced by them.

Speaking to the media person, Sameer Waliullah said that private properties worth hundreds of crores were lost due to floods. “Over 1,500 colonies in Hyderabad were submerged. People lost all their property including electric, electronic and household items. Many people also lost their valuables, including gold, silver and cash. Many houses are still submerged. But, so far, no efforts have been made to create a mechanism to assess the damage,” he said.

Sameer Wailullah said that the damages should be assessed on an immediate basis. A high level team, comprising local revenue, police and officials of other departments, should be constituted to enumerate the losses. 

He said all the affected people were entitled for compensation under the Section 66 of the Disaster Management Act, 2005. But the damages need to be assessed by a Committee, Authority or officer, referred to in Sub-Section (1) of Section 65.

The Congress leader said that the TRS Government not only failed to prevent or minimise the damages caused due to floods, but provide any kind of relief in the majority of affected areas. He said that the ministers, including Municipal Administration Minister K. Tarakarama Rao, were touring the affected areas only to take pictures and get media coverage. 
He said that the State Government should conduct enumeration of the total losses suffered by each individual and pay them adequate compensation. ‘It takes a lifetime for people to buy electric and electronic items, furniture and other household items. They buy those things from their savings every month. But they lost everything at the blink of an eye due to the negligence of the TRS Government,” he said.