Hyderabad, Oct 7th: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will make an aerial survey of flood-hit districts of Andhra Pradesh on Friday. Manmohan Singh will arrive in Vijayawada by a special aircraft from New Delhi at 11.20 a.m. and conduct the survey by a helicopter. He will fly over Krishna, Guntur, Kurnool, Mehboobnagar and Nalgonda districts to see the damages caused by the floods, billed as the worst in 100 years. Manmohan Singh will land at Begumpet airport here at 12.45 p.m. and hold a meeting with Chief Minister K. Rosaiah and top officials to review relief operations, the release said. The prime minister will then leave for Karnataka and survey the flood-hit areas in the neighboring state.

The Centre has released Rs. 156.84 crore and Rs. 52.26 crore to Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka respectively to combat the ongoing flood situation and the preceding drought, a government release said. Keeping in view the magnitude of the situation, requirement for relief operations and the fact that Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka have also been affected by drought during current year, the Centre, in advance, released the second installment of Central share of Calamity Relief Fund for 2009-10. The National Disaster Response Force, Army, Navy and Air force deployed by the Centre are still engaged in large scale rescue and evacuation operations and distribution of food, drinking water and other relief items to the affected people in the two southern states.