Visakhapatnam: Prime Minister Narendra Modi has announced a Rs. 1,000-crore package to help Andhra Pradesh get back on its feet. Modi took an aerial survey of the cyclone-battered Visakhapatnam on Tuesday accompanied by Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu.
He also announced Rs 2 lakh ex-gratia to the next of the kin of those killed and Rs 50,000 for those injured in the cyclone Hudhud.
Modi said technology had helped contain the crisis and that there was close coordination between the Centre and the state government to ensure casualties were minimised.
The airport at Vizag has been ripped apart by Cyclone Hudhud, which pounded Vizag on Sunday morning with a top windspeed of nearly 200 km per hour. The roof of the airport was ripped off and blown away.
The PM inspected the damage at the airport. Flights are unlikely to operate for at least a week from here.
As many as 29 people have died in the disaster in Andhra and Odisha.
Visakhapatnam, home to two million people and a massive naval base, is still without power in most parts. Telephone lines are down. There is just one working ATM in the city.
The Chief Minister is in Vizag since Monday to supervise his administration’s attempts to help restore basic services to the people and ensure that essential supplies like food and milk are delivered to residents.
He has warned that any official who is not working 24X7 towards that goal will be “dragged by the police, if necessary” to him.