Power supply would be restored in Kanniyakumari district within 72 hours, Saikumar, Chairman, Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation, said.
Addressing a meeting attended by the Principal Secretaries of various departments here on Tuesday to review the progress made in restoration work after rain and gale ravaged the district on last Thursday night, Mr. Saikumar said the State government, which was according topmost priority to restoring power supply in all parts of the district within the shortest possible time, had deployed two Directors, 10 Chief Engineers, 18 Superintending Engineers and 5,320 field staff to reinstall 10,500 electric poles.
After installing 7,500 damaged electric poles, Tangedco employees were working overtime to reinstall the remaining posts. Simultaneously, work was going on to repair and re-commission damaged substations.
Another 1,000 personnel from various units of Tangedco’s southern districts would reach Kanniyakumari district on Wednesday to expedite the restoration work.
Gagandeep Singh Bedi, Principal Secretary, Department of Agriculture, said block-level joint committees had been formed to assess the damage to paddy, coconut, plantain, tapioca, rubber, clove, pepper and araca nut crops for issue of compensation to affected farmers.
The affected farmers should submit copies of their land documents, the first page of bank passbook, Aadhaar card and mobile/phone numbers to the village administrative officers and the Agricultural/ Horticultural Officers concerned.
“Since water stagnation in paddy fields will affect the yield and pave way for pest attack, he water should be drained immediately. Moreover, a mixture of 26 kg of urea and 21 kg of potash should be applied per acre in paddy field. Two kg urea and 1 kg of zinc sulphate should be dissolved in 200 litres of water and sprinkled on paddy leaves either in the morning on in the evening,” Mr. Bedi said.
The Agricultural Officers had been instructed to guide the farmers properly to save their crops, he said.
Hansraj Varma, Additional Chief Secretary (Rural Development), T.K. Ramachandran, Secretary, Department of Information Technology, T. Rajendra Kumar, Industries Commissioner, P. Chandramohan, Revenue Secretary, G. Prakash, Commissioner for Municipal Administration, K. Baskaran, Director of Rural Development and Local Administration, Dhandapani, Director of Fisheries, and Sajjansingh R. Chavan, Collector, participated in the meeting.
