I had a review meeting with the Chief Minister, Cabinet Ministers and state officials on the record floods that have hit the State of Andhra Pradesh in the last few weeks. I was shown pictures of the heavy flooding and damage that has occurred.

I flew over parts of the Godavari and Penganga basins in Nizamabad district where there has been widespread flooding. The Godavari River has been flowing at unprecedented levels, causing extensive flooding and damage in the rice bowl of the State, the East and West Godavari districts. North coastal Andhra including Srikakulam and Visakhapatnam have also been badly affected.

Many cities and towns and over 5000 villages have been flooded and lakhs of families have lost their homes and belongings. I am told that some of the canal systems may have been damaged as well. Smt. Sonia Gandhi and the Home Minister visited the coastal regions two days ago. I had a chance to see some of the damage today.

The Chief Minister and the Government of Andhra Pradesh have been working extremely hard to restore normal life in the affected parts. I commend their efforts. We will do all that is necessary to support rescue and relief operations.

An assistance of Rs. 200 crores from the Calamity Relief Fund of the Central Government was announced two days ago. Seeing the extensive damage, another Rs. 200 crores of assistance will be provided immediately from the National Calamity Contingency Fund. We will send a Central Team shortly to assess the damage and provide further assistance. Over 110 people have died in the State. I feel sad about this. We will provide Rs. 1 lakh each from the Prime Minister's Relief Fund to the families of those who died in the floods.

Andhra Pradesh is the granarv of South India. The floods, which I am told are the second highest in history, should not affect the productive capacity of its fertile lands. We will work jointly with the State Government to quickly restore the canal and irrigation system to a good condition.