Power supply has been restored to about 1.75 lakh domestic power connections out of the 2.74 lakh connections that were severed by Cyclone Gaja in Tiruvarur district, Food Minister R. Kamaraj said on Saturday.
Steps were afoot to restore power supply to the remaining connections in the next three or four days. At present, about 7, 500 tangedco employees were engaged in the restoration work in the district and another 2,000 were expected to arrive in the district shortly, he said speaking to reporters after inspecting the distribution of relief packages meant for cyclone affected people from the Tamil Nadu Civil Supplies Corporation godown here.
Mr. Kamaraj also disclosed that about 1.26 lakh houses have been partially or fully damaged in the district as per the enumeration conducted so far. So far ₹22 crore has been disbursed as compensation to about 47,000 families in the district. The compensation is being directly credited to the bank accounts of the affected persons. Enumeration of crop damage in the district was nearing completion and all the affected people would be given compensation, he added.
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Meanwhile, Nagapattinam Collector S. Suresh Kumar, while addressing a press conference on Friday, said that 1.20 lakh huts and tiled houses have been damaged either partially or fully in Nagapattinam district. A sum of ₹86 crore has been received for being disbursed to the affected families and so far ₹76.04 crore has been disbursed in 164 villages.
As many as 10,129 goats, 804 cows, 557 calves and over 9,508 birds have perished in the district. Compensation was being disbursed to farmers whose livestock were killed. Compensation to the tune of ₹15.82 crore has been disbursed to nearly 5,000 fishermen who lost their boats. About ₹4.26 crore has been disbursed as compensation for 750 damaged mechanised boats.
As for the restoration of power supply was concerned, all the 30 damaged sub-stations in the district have been rectified. Of the 49,000 electricity poles that were uprooted, 43,157 have been reinstalled. Distribution lines to a length of 13,424 km have been restored. Of the 5.60 lakh severed connections, power supply has been restored to 5.34 lakh connections.
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About 2.84 lakh coconut trees on about 3,885 hectares have been damaged in the district, besides horticulture crops on about 4,655 hectares.