Alleging that no proper survey of the damage caused by Cyclone Ockhi in Kanniyakumari district had been done even 15 days after the cyclone struck, DMK working president M.K. Stalin said on Wednesday that even Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami did not pay proper attention to the problems faced by the people in the district.
“The Chief Minister, his Cabinet colleagues and IAS officers are contradicting one another on the data. The Chief Minister went there and returned in the evening and there are no details about whether he visited the affected areas and met fishermen and their families. He reviewed the situation as if he chaired the AIADMK party meeting and made a few announcements,” he told reporters after submitting a representation to Tamil Nadu Governor Banwarilal Purohit.
Mr. Stalin said people of Kanniyakumari district had questioned the visit of the Chief Minister and they were of the opinion that he could have made the announcement from Chennai itself instead of visiting the district.
“Since we have come to the conclusion that the government is not functioning properly, we have made a representation to the Governor. We have sought adequate compensation for crop loss on a par with what has been offered in the neighbouring Kerala. We have also urged him to take full-on efforts to bring home fishermen who had landed in other States,” he said.
When told that the Chief Minister had announced ₹20 lakh each to the families of the fishermen who were killed in the cyclone, he said the government should at least implement it since similar announcements in the past were not implemented.
Gutkha scam
Asked about Union Minister Pon Radhakrishnan’s request that the Ockhi damage should not be exaggerated, he said one should ask where was he when the cyclone hit the district.
Reacting to former Chief Secretary Rama Mohan Rao’s claim that former Chief Minister Jayalalithaa wanted to take action against those who were involved in the illegal sale of gutkha, a banned substance, Mr. Stalin said the DMK had demanded a CBI inquiry in anticipation of such developments even though the party had raised the issue in the Assembly.
Mr. Stalin said there could not be two opinions about Governor chairing review meetings in districts. “Governor should not conduct review meetings. When a State government is not functioning, the Governor should take action, and we have made a demand in this connection,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Tamil Nadu government has increased the compensation to families of persons not belonging to the fishermen community, who were killed in Cyclone Ockhi in Kanniyakumari district. The amount has been increased to ₹10 lakh from the ₹4 lakh announced earlier.
