Scourge of Budameru floods continues to haunt as permanent repair works remain on paper, allege CPI (M) leaders

CPI (M) State Secretariat member Ch. Babu Rao said on Sunday that the Budameru rivulet remained a scourge for the people of Vijayawada and its surroundings, as the government failed to get permanent repairs done even a year after it flooded some parts of the city like never before.

The State government asked ₹6,880 crore for reinforcing the Budameru canal system, but the Centre had not released a single rupee till date, Mr. Babu Rao alleged while addressing the media in Vijayawada.

Mr. Babu Rao said the CPI (M) would launch a weeklong campaign on August 30 to mount pressure on the government to take steps that would protect the people from Budameru floods in the future. He recalled that lakhs of people were displaced and about 50 persons died as the rivulet received unprecedented inflows on August 31 and September 1 in 2024 as the government failed to issue advanced warnings. There was also huge property loss.

Residents of several localities in Vijayawada city, and NTR and Krishna districts were on tenterhooks due to the flood fury, he added.

Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu’s assurances to the flood-hit were confined to rhetoric, the CPI(M) leader alleged. Except for plugging a breach with approximately ₹30 crore, no significant work had been done. Besides, the government failed to fully compensate the families of those who died in the calamity, traders, petty businessmen and workers who were affected, he alleged.

Mr. Babu Rao said the Centre and the State must release ₹10,000 crore for doing a comprehensive flood prevention work on Budameru, while demanding that the government publish a White Paper on the works done so far.

Party leaders D. Kashinath, B. Satyababu and B. Ramana Rao were present.