The State government should provide ₹1,000 crore as initial funding to build new houses for those who lost their houses to floods and landslides in the Nilgiris and the government should declare the district as a disaster-hit region, DMK president M.K. Stalin demanded in a letter to Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami.
In the letter, Mr. Stalin urged the government to stop shifting the affected people from relief camps back to their houses that had been damaged in incessant rains, without proper restoration work.
“The government should immediately declare the district as a disaster-hit region and seek funds from the Centre and undertake relief and restoration work on a war-footing to enable the affected people return to their homes in a safe manner,” Mr. Stalin said.
The DMK leader insisted that the government should provide one government job for those whose family members had lost their lives in the rain, apart from providing ₹10 lakh as compensation as announced by the government.
DMK’s contribution
Mr. Stalin said he had announced that the DMK would provide ₹10 crore from the MPs and MLAs’ constituency development fund to assist in the rehabilitation efforts.
The DMK chief claimed that the government planned to send back those in relief camps and that he had received information that they were being served substandard food.
Mr. Stalin asked the Chief Minister to constitute an expert committee to identify the means to prevent landslides in the region in future and provide government aid to those affected in the presence of a committee comprising representatives of all political parties.
He said while the government said 17 roads had been completely affected and 150 roads partially damaged, nearly 350 km of road, including the road between Lawrence and Avalanche, have been severely damaged.
