Revenue Minister R.B. Udhayakumar on Wednesday said the State government and the district administration were working towards assessing the damage caused by the heavy downpour in Madurai.
Residents whose houses and farmlands were affected will receive compensation.
The Minister, along with Minister of Cooperation ‘Sellur’ K. Raju and MLA V.V. Rajan Chellappa, visited water-logged areas. They also inspected tanks where desilting work was carried out to prevent further flooding in the city.
Visiting Sellur tank, the Minister attributed the damage to surplus channels that could not handle the sudden excess inflow of water due to rain and release from Vaigai dam. “The Public Works department is assessing storage capacity and placing sandbags in places where the bunds are weak. All officials have also been asked to keep an eye on the total inflow for the next 24 hours,” he said.
Asked why inundation continued to take place in many parts of the city despite planning, he said the district administration had already mapped out 4,399 vulnerable spots ahead of the rain. The strength of old structures was being monitored and maps had been charted for rescue and relief operations. “We have a total of 5,000 sandbags in place. Desilting works have already taken place. Encroachments along the northern bank of the Vaigai have been removed as well,” he said.
Mr. Raju attributed the downpour to climate change. Many tanks in his ward had already been disilted and maintained. The groundwater would improve in the constituency due to timely effort.
Mr. Rajan Chellappa said a ₹20-crore project would soon be undertaken by PWD in order to cement the Panthalkudi channel. “This will prevent major flooding in the future.”
