Hyderabad: Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu on Tuesday announced Rs.5 lakh compensation each for the families of the engineering students drowned in Himachal Pradesh.
Mr Naidu made the announcement before the Telangana government came out with a package to assist the families of the victims.
Rescue workers have so far recovered six bodies from the Beas river in Himachal Pradesh while search is on for 18 other missing students.
The students from V.N.R. Vignana Jyothi Engineering College in Hyderabad were washed away Sunday in flash floods triggered by the release of water from a hydroelectric project.
Though the students are from Telangana, the government of neighbouring Andhra Pradesh has come forward for the relief work. It arranged special flights to take parents of the students to Himachal Pradesh and bring them back with the bodies.
Mr Naidu, who took over as chief minister on Sunday, reviewed the relief operations on Tuesday. He spoke to Civil Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju and state minister P. Narayana over phone and directed them to extend all possible help to the parents of the victims.
The Telugu Desam Party (TDP) chief also appealed to the central government to speed up search operations for the missing students.
