Promising relief assistance to all people affected by cyclone Gaja in the State, Deputy Chief Minister O. Panneerselvam on Sunday charged that ‘some people with vested interests’ were inciting affected people to stage protests.
Talking to media persons, he said the attempt made by a group of agitators to manhandle Handlooms Minister O. S. Manian at Vizhunthamavadi in Nagapattinam district was unfortunate.
The Deputy Chief Minister said that the people were closely watching the “incidents being orchestrated” in a few areas after the visit of “a leader” to Nagapattinam. The people should not react to rumours.
The State government was committed to reaching out to the affected persons. Farmers, traders and all sections of the affected persons would get relief assistance. Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami would chair a meeting in Chennai on Monday. Important decisions would be taken, he said.
Mr. Panneerselvam said that the cyclone had caused extensive damage to the power and road infrastructure in Nagapattinam, Tiruvarur, Thanjavur, Pudukottai, Dindigul and Theni districts.
In addition to the existing relief personnel, 5,375 more workers of various departments from different parts of the State had been deputed to the affected areas for relief operations.
He said that out of 18,000 damaged electric poles, 7,958 had been replaced in coastal areas.
More than 520 transformers had damaged. Of them, 111 have been replaced. Workers had been working round-the-clock to restore power supply.
On drinking water crisis in the affected areas, he said that the Tamil Nadu Water and Drainage Board had installed mobile or portable generators at different locations to supply water to the people. Instructions have been issued to station as many generators as possible to ensure continuous water supply in the affected areas. “We understand the sufferings and pain of the people. We have galvanised the machinery to function on a war footing to bring back normalcy in all affected areas,” Mr. Panneerselvam said.
Earlier, accompanied by Minister for Forest Dindigul C. Sreenivasan; Minister for Municipal Administration and Rural Development, S P Velumani; Minister for Revenue R .B. Udayakumar; Health Secretary J. Radhakrishnan; and District Collector S. Suresh Kumar, the Deputy CM visited Vedaranyam and various affected areas to take stock of relief operations.
