Minister for Sports and Youth Welfare S. Sundararaj and senior IAS officer S. Vijayakumar, who has been deputed to the district to oversee preparations to be taken in the event of heavy rains, visited reception centres at various places even as the district administration evacuated 150 people living in Dahushkodi to a centre as a precautionary measure.
As most of the centres have been established in government schools, the district administration has declared holiday for all schools in the district on Monday and Tuesday.
A day after holding a high-level meeting with officials of all departments, Mr. Vijayakumar visited the centres in Rameswaram, Verkodu, Thangachimadam and Kilakarai and reviewed preparatory works for relief and rescue operations.
Accompanied Collector K. Nanthakumar, Inspector General of Police A.K. Singh, Superintendent of Police N. Manivannan and other officials, Mr. Vijayakumar instructed those in-charge of the centres to be in a state of readiness to meet any eventuality.
The Minister and officials checked whether the centres were stocked with rice, vegetables, drinking water and other ration items to feed people when they were accommodated in the centres in event of their evacuation from rain-hit areas, official sources said.
The district administration had established 37 centres – 22 in panchayat unions, eight in municipal limits and seven in town panchayats. Each centre had a capacity to accommodate and feed 1,000 people, the sources said. Revenue officials were put in charge of the centres.
All the centres were opened on Sunday and the district administration informed the people about the functioning of the centres through tom-tom. It also asked people living in low-lying areas to move to the centres if they faced problems.
The district administration had taken all measures to ensure that there was no untoward incident in the district during rains in the next couple of days, Mr. Nanthakumar told reporters. Apart from the reception centres, one government building in each of the 429 panchayats was kept ready to accommodate people. The needy would also be given free dhotis and saris, he added.
