Cyclone Montha: Nandyal and Kurnool administration put on alert

Nandyal District Collector Rajakumari Ganiya asked the district administration to be on alert in view of the possibility of heavy rains lashing the district in the coming three days under the impact of Cyclone Montha.

The Collector said that there was a possibility of the district bearing the impact of the cyclone and asked the farmers to take necessary precautions to avoid crop losses. She urged farmers to delay plucking of onion, corn and tomato from their fields temporarily. There is a possibility of prices of corn coming down due to excess moisture content, she added and asked the traders to purchase the corn as per the rate fixed by the government.

Stating that sanitation works were not being carried out satisfactorily, particularly in Atmakur municipality, the Collector asked the Municipal department officials to take steps to maintain the situation. She instructed the officials to ensure supply of chlorinated water and take up chlorination at summer storage tanks and RO plants. She warned of seizure of private RO plants which do not maintain standards.

Ms. Rajakumari also asked officials to shift people living in dilapidated and old buildings to safer places and identify vulnerable places, where there was possibility of breaches to canals and tanks. She wanted officials to make sandbags ready at these places as a precautionary measure.

Meanwhile, Kurnool District Collector A. Siri reviewed the arrangements to tackle the heavy rains in the next two days. She asked the officials of Electricity, Roads and Buildings, and Irrigation to keep men and material ready to send to Tirupati and Nellore districts, which are likely to be more affected.

She also asked Civil Supplies, Horticulture, Animal Husbandry officials to keep stocks of essential commodities, medicines, water packets, biscuits, bread, vegetables, milk, eggs, and also fodder for cattle ready for shifting to Nellore and Tirupati districts.