Disaster Response DG denies wrongdoing during evacuation

Hyderabad: Director of the Telangana Fire, Disaster Response, Emergency and Civil Defence, Hyderabad Y Nagi Reddy on Friday, August 29, denied allegations of any wrongdoing by department officials during rescue operations in Kamareddy district during heavy rains in Telangana over the last week.

The Disaster Response teams were deployed in the six districts of Telangana — Kamareddy, Medak, Nizamabad, Nirmal, Rajanna Siricilla, and Siddipet due to extremely heavy rains. Nagi Reddy stated that one individual refused evacuation when officials reached him between 11:30 p.m. and 11:45 p.m.

“This individual, who was located on the first floor of an apartment building in Kamareddy, refused evacuation when fire crews reached him at 11:30-l 1 ;45 PM on Wednesday, despite the risks involved. At the same time, three of his neighbors were rescued by our personnel. Subsequently, this individual engaged in continuous calls to senior officers, disrupting ongoing priority-based rescue efforts, as reported by RFO Sudhakar, the officer in charge of operations at Kamareddy,” stated the director general in a statement to the media.

Over the last few days, rivers, streams, and irrigation tanks, coupled with backwaters from projects were breached due to heavy rains which led to the inundation of low-lying areas, agricultural fields, and residential colonies especially in Kamareddy and Medak districts.

“Road and bridge connectivity was severely disrupted, hampering immediate access to the affected areas. In this challenging situation, the Telangana Fire and Disaster Response Department has deployed its maximum available resources to safeguard lives and property,” said the direcgtor general.

Owing to the heavy rains in Telangana, 1646 flood victims were rescued which included farmers, shepherds, students, residents, officials, children, elderly persons, pregnant women, and livestock a across 31 major operations across the six districts.

“All rescue activities in these colonies were successfully concluded by Thursday noon. Importantly, no lives were lost in these colonies due to the combined efforts of the Fire Department and District Administration,” added Nagi Reddy in his statement.