Telangana facing alarming floods, Congress pins blame on TRS and lake-encroachment

With Telangana witnessing incessant rainfall and flood situation, Congress leader Sravan Dasoju on Saturday pinned blame on the state government, saying that after Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) came to power, lakes being encroached is leading to floods in Hyderabad. The flood situation in the state affected life and property in the capital city Hyderabad, killing at least 70 people.

Speaking to ANI, Dasoju said that during the Telangana agitations Congress demanded protection of all these lakes from encroachment, which the TRS government couldn't fulfill. As per Survey of India, there are around 300 lakes alone in Hyderabad city.

"Telangana Congress has been consistently bringing up an argument that, particularly after Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) came into power, lakes in Hyderabad are being encroached, which is being done by TRS leaders and its friends. During Telangana agitations, we demanded that all these lakes should be protected from encroachment, which the TRS government couldn't fulfill. Today, Hyderabad city has been flooded because of the encroachment happening in lakes," he said.

Showing GPS images of a Suram lake, he alleged that the lake has been encroached by a school. He further said that due to this encroachment, people of Hyderabad are facing a lot of problems as their houses are now lying underwater as they have been flooded with water.

"I question the Telangana Government, can they take action and remove the illegal construction over the encroached lakes in the city?" he asked.

He said that the Government of Telangana is the main culprit in this whole floods episode in Hyderabad.

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Earlier on October 23, A five-member inter-ministerial team of the central government visited Telangana for an on-the-spot assessment of the damages caused by the recent heavy rains and floods. 

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Floods wreak havoc in the state

The officials of irrigation, municipal administration, Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC), energy and other departments interacted with the Central team and gave an overview of the loss incurred. The losses to crops and roads were estimated at Rs 8,633 crore and Rs 222 crore respectively. The GHMC suffered damage worth around Rs 567 crores, it said.

The Telangana government has released Rs 550 crore for immediate flood relief and food packets were supplied to more than two lakh people.  The flood situation in the state affected life and property in the capital city Hyderabad, killing at least 70 people. Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao on Monday announced an immediate relief compensation of Rs 10,000 to each poor household from the low lying areas adding that the government would start disbursing the compensation from Tuesday itself.

READ: Telangana govt planning to recruit 20,000 cops: State Home Minister

READ: Telangana: Central team visits Hyderabad to assess damage due to floods that killed 70

(With Inputs from ANI)