This is the first time the PM spoke to Naidu after TDP left NDA government.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi called up Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu on Thursday and enquired about the devastation caused by Cyclone Titli this week. This is the first time the Prime Minister spoke to Chief Minister Naidu after the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) left the BJP-led NDA government seven months ago in March this year. The PM also spoke to Cyclone Titli hit Orissa Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik the same day.
As both Andhra Pradesh and Orissa are election bound in next April/May, cyclone relief measures naturally acquired a degree of political importance. Contrary to the usual practice, the Centre has called for an early report on the extent of damage done by the cyclone. According to sources from the AP CM office, Naidu wrote to the Centre seeking Rs 1,200 crore urgently, and put the total damage at Rs 2,800 crore.
BJP sources said that the PM was likely to visit the cyclone hit areas soon. The sources also said that a delegation of the Union Agriculture Ministry and Farmers’ Welfare would soon visit cyclone-hit areas within a fortnight. The cyclone, which originated in the Bay of Bengal early this week, crossed the coast between Srikakulam district in Andhra and Gopalpur in Orissa at 4 am on 11 October, and caused heavy damage to public and private properties and claimed seven lives.
Cyclone Titli, which reminded of the Hudhud cyclone that hit Visakhapatnam city on the same day two years ago in its ferocity and intensity of rainfall and gales, left a trail of destruction in Srikakulam and Vizianagaram districts in Andhra. Chief Minister Naidu reached Palasa in Srikakulam district on Thursday morning and is still there supervising relief operations.
Thanks to the Prime Minister’s telephonic calls and review of the situation from Delhi on Thursday, several departments in the Central government, too, swung into action and 60 teams of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) have been busy removing damaged electric poles and trees that fell across the highways and railway tracks.
More than 3,000 houses were wiped out as the sea waves touching 4 to 6 meters in height hit the coastal areas of Srikakulam in Andhra and Puri, Gopalpuram and Jagatsinghpur in Orissa when the storm passed through the areas. AP Revenue Minister and Deputy Chief Minister K.E. Krishnamoorthy said: “As many as 3,000 fishermen were affected by the cyclone and enumeration is still going on.”
Cashew crops and industries have been the worst hit by Titli, as hundreds of acres of the crop have been completely damaged by winds and heavy rains that accompanied the cyclone. In Orissa, eight districts—Ganjam, Gajapathi, Khurda, Puri, Jagatsinghpur, Bhadrak, Kendrapara and Balasore—have been declared cyclone affected.