Friday, August 11 2006 11:11 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Hyderabad: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is to undertake an aerial survey of the flood-hit areas in Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra today (Aug 11, 2006).

The floods in Andhra Pradesh have claimed 108 lives, besides rendering thousands homeless and damaging houses and crops in 16 of the 23 state districts, affecting 649,000 families.

The prime minister is scheduled to arrive here at 10.30 a.m. and leave immediately for an aerial survey of Nanded in Maharashtra and Adilabad in Andhra Pradesh, two regions worst hit by the flooding of the Penganga river.

Singh will return to Hyderabad at 2:30 p.m., where he will meet Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy and top state officials, who will brief him about the extent of damage caused by the week-long floods in parts of coastal Andhra and Telangana regions of the state.

The prime minister was earlier scheduled to arrive here at 1.30 p.m. but the changes in his itinerary were conveyed to the state authorities early Friday.

Singh's visit comes close on the heels of a similar survey conducted by Congress President and United Progressive Alliance (UPA) chairperson Sonia Gandhi. She had surveyed the Khammam and East and West Godavari districts during her five-hour visit Wednesday.

During the meeting with Singh, Chief Minister Reddy is likely to seek central assistance for relief and rehabilitation measures and for permanent steps to prevent recurrence of floods.

He is to submit to the prime minister a memorandum seeking Rs.5.19 billion for immediate relief and Rs.10.5 billion for permanent measures to prevent recurrence of floods.

The state needs Rs.6.5 billion for repairing the 480-km-long Godavari embankments and another Rs.5 billion for constructing similar bunds on the banks of the Vamsadhara and the Nagavali, which wreaked havoc in Srikakulam in north coastal Andhra recently.

Reddy estimated the loss on all counts at over Rs.10 billion. He, however, said it was not the final figure, as the full picture would emerge only after the floodwaters receded.

Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil, who had visited the flood-hit areas along with Gandhi, had announced Rs.2 billion as central assistance for immediate relief work.

Meanwhile, a low-pressure area over the Bay of Bengal and the rise in the water level of the Krishna river is causing concern to the state administration.

According to the Visakhapatnam Cyclone Warning Centre, the low-pressure area could result in heavy rains in coastal Andhra Pradesh in the next 24 hours.

The water in the Tunghabhadra is also rising to alarming levels due to heavy inflows from the upper riparian states of Maharashtra and Karnataka.

Certain areas in the coastal districts of Krishna and Guntur were flooded following the discharge of 600,000 cusecs of water from the Srisailam and Nagarjunasagar reservoirs across Krishna.

Officials said they were monitoring the situation and were geared up to evacuate people from low-lying areas along Krishna.