Cyclone Michaung | Palaniswami holds Stalin responsible for ‘lack of preparedness’

AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K. Palaniswami distributing essential items to flood-hit people at Arumbakkam in Chennai on Saturday, December 9, 2023 | Photo Credit: M. Vedhan

The AIADMK general secretary, Edappadi K. Palaniswami, held Chief Minister M.K. Stalin responsible for the “lack of preparedness” to tackle the Cyclone Michaung-induced situation.

Interacting with the media after visiting flood-hit areas of Harbour, R.K. Nagar, Tiruvottiyur and Anna Nagar Assembly constituencies, Mr. Palaniswami on Saturday contended that the Chief Minister remained “lax” despite the Meteorological Department’s alerts. The government did not caution the people about the cyclone and its impact, he said.

Alluding to Minister for Youth Welfare Udhayanidhi Stalin, the AIADMK leader said had the Minister concentrated on the cyclone-related work instead of the proposed youth conference of the ruling party, the impact of the flood could have been reduced. He also flayed the government for its contradictory statements on the progress of the storm-water drain project in the city, and urged it to pay compensation to farmers who suffered losses owing to the recent rain spell.

Meanwhile, expressing concern over the plight of industrial units that were affected in the rain, the AIADMK’s former coordinator, O. Panneerselvam, cited observations of owners of units in the Ambattur industrial estate and said that in the estate itself, units incurred losses to the tune of ₹2,000 crore. If such a situation became an annual feature, owners would be forced to shift their units to other States, he added.

Mr. Panneerselvam further called upon the Chief Minister to have compensation paid to the units and take steps to resolve the problem permanently.

The party’s former interim general secretary, V.K. Sasikala, demanded that the compensation to be paid to people affected by the rain should be higher than the amount provided by the AIADMK regime in 2015 when Jayalalithaa was the Chief Minister. She recalled that then, the amount ranged from ₹5,000 to ₹10,000.

Apart from draining rainwater, the government should remove fallen trees and garbage. Medical camps should be conducted in a purposeful manner and steps should be taken to provide essential commodities through fair price shops to those who could not get them on account of the rain, she added.