Chief Minister M.K. Stalin on Thursday urged the Union Government to declare the destruction caused by the unprecedented downpour in Tirunelveli and Thoothukudi districts as a ‘National Disaster’.
Addressing reporters after distributing relief materials here, Mr. Stalin said he, during the 20 minute-long meeting with Mr. Modi, had submitted a memorandum seeking ₹2,000 crore from the National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF) in the first phase for carrying out relief and rehabilitation works in the flood-ravaged Tirunelveli and Thoothukudi districts.
Since the Finance Commission had fixed the State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF) as ₹1,600 crore for this fiscal, the Union government had given its share of ₹900 crore in two instalments. As this amount would not be sufficient for relief and rehabilitation activities and reconstruction of damaged buildings and roads, the Centre, after declaring the damage caused by the torrential rain as a ‘National Disaster’, should allocate ₹2,000 crore from the NDRF, he demanded.
“Even though I had requested the Prime Minister to declare this tragedy a ‘National Disaster, the Union Government is yet to do so. Hence, nothing has been received from the NDRF. Though the Centre did not provide sufficient funds, the Tamil Nadu government managed the Chennai flood with ₹1,500 crore and the Tirunelveli and Thoothukudi one with ₹500 crore from its own funds,” Mr. Stalin said.
The Chief Minister said 10 Ministers and senior IAS and IPS officers had been deployed to oversee relief and rescue operations in Tirunelveli and Thoothukudi districts, even as 375 State Disaster Response Force, 275 National Disaster Response Force personnel, and 168 Indian Army jawans were already in the field. A total of 12,653 people had been lodged in 141 relief camps with all basic facilities, which were being reviewed by the Chief Minister and the Chief Secretary. Inaccessible villages have been identified, and relief materials will be supplied to these isolated hamlets.
Mr. Stalin also informed that more helicopters had been sought from the Ministry of Defence to supplement the eight choppers that were already involved in relief and rescue.
Assuring that the damage suffered by the people would be rightly compensated, he said the ex gratia for the loss of life due to the flood had been hiked from ₹4 lakh to ₹5 lakh and the compensation for crop loss increased from ₹13,500 to ₹17,000 per hectare. While the badly affected population of Tirunelveli and Thoothukudi districts will get ₹6,000 per ration card, people living in other taluks of these two districts and the people of Tenkasi and Kanniyakumari districts will get ₹1,000, he announced.
The Chief Minister reiterated that the State government had taken all precautionary measures even though the IMD had given “delayed and inaccurate” weather forecast about the rainfall in the southern districts. When asked about Governor R.N. Ravi’s assertion that there was lack of coordination between the State government and the Central agencies in the relief and rescue operations, Mr. Stalin said the Governor, who was visiting New Delhi every week, should get more funds from the Centre for carrying out these activities.
Minister for Finance Thangam Thennarasu, who was present at the press meet, refuted the charge that the public had not been alerted about the heavy discharge of water from the dams. “We, through SMS, had alerted that over 1.45 lakh cusecs of water would be released from the reservoirs and requested people living near the Tamirabharani watercourse to move to safer places or relief camps. Those who refused to move out were also evacuated,” he said.
Tamil Nadu Assembly Speaker M. Appavu and Minister for Local Administration K.N. Nehru and Minister for Higher Education R.S. Rajakannappan and MP S. Gnanathiaraviam were present.
After distributing assistance to the people in the relief camp at St. Mary’s Higher Secondary School in Millerpuram in Thoothukudi, Mr. Stalin visited the waterlogged Third Gate Rail Over Bridge, Kurinji Nagar and adjacent Polepettai. MP Kanimozhi, Ministers P. Geetha Jeevan and T. Mano Thangaraj and Mayor Jegan Periyasami accompanied him.
Commissioner for Revenue Administration S.K. Prabhakar, Principal Secretary for Municipal Administration D. Karthikeyan, Secretary, Department of Registration Jothi Nirmala, Collector G. Lakshmipathi and Corporation Commissioner C. Dinesh Kumar were also present.
