The havoc wreaked by heavy rains here should be a lesson for officials of the public works and local administration departments that they may take the necessary steps for adequately dealing with such crises in the future, Chief Minister N Rangasamy has said.
With the unprecedented rains hitting normal life in the Union Territory of Puducherry during the last 20 days, the chief minister said that “what went wrong regarding the management of the drainage as also the other infrastructure” should be studied by the officials.
He was talking to newsmen on Friday after finalising Rs 150 crore relief package for farmers, hut dwellers and others.
He said that the “inundation of housing colonies and fields was due to poor maintenance of infrastructure and want of proper planning”.
The disruption caused by the rains should be an eye-opener for all the government departments so that they may work to ensure that any such crisis in the future does not lead to the same woes that people and the farmers have had to suffer during the North East Monsoon this year.
He said he has asked the PWD, local administration and other departments to properly review the situation and take steps for reclaiming and freeing of encroachments the broad storm-water canals that were built during the previous regime.
Those who have constructed buildings that are choking the canals should voluntarily demolish these structures or else the department would have to act with the goal of protecting fields and ensuring prevention of flooding, he said.
Chief Secretary Manoj Parida, Relief Commissioner V Candavelou and officials of Agriculture and Local Administration departments were also present for the meeting.
