Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami, who reviewed the ongoing drought relief measures in various districts across the State on Thursday, has instructed District Collectors to take up the measures on a war footing.
He held a video conference with District Collectors of Coimbatore, Madurai, Salem, Thanjavur, Tiruchi, Tirunelveli and Villupuram from the Secretariat along with senior Ministers and officials and advised them to speed up the process for paying crop insurance claims.
Mr. Palaniswami instructed officials to speed up work relating to kudimaramathu and expand the capacity of tanks in various parts of the State. He also advised them to focus on drinking water needs in those areas. He directed district Collectors and senior government officials to ease the process so that farmers could take away silt from reservoirs for farming purposes.
Forest Minister Dindigul C. Srinivasan, School Education Minister K.A. Sengottaiyan, Revenue Minister R.B. Udhayakumar, Housing Minister Udumalai K. Radhakrishnan, Environment Minister K.C. Karuppannan, Chief Secretary Girija Vaidyanathan and other senior officials were part of the meeting.
Meanwhile, talking to reporters in Coimbatore on his way to Udhagamandalam to inaugurate the flower show, the Chief Minister said that considering the extreme drought and in a bid to conserve water, desilting the catchment areas of the Mettur Stanely reservoir would begin next week and arrangements were in full swing for desilting 2,200 lakes and tanks across the State.
Mr. Palanisamy said that work for desilting and renovating the 1519 lakes/tanks and ponds across the State were already under way at a cost of ₹100 crore under the kudimaramathu scheme. In addition, steps were being taken to undertake the desilting of 2,200 more lakes/tanks and ponds at a cost of ₹300 crore, he said.
