Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami informed the Assembly on Friday that the government was still hopeful of getting funds from the Centre towards cyclone relief works in Gaja-hit districts in the State.
“Our people need relief. They need to be given permanent relief and hence we made the demand. But only meagre funds have been sanctioned. We have sought more funds. We are expecting that we will definitely get the funds,” Mr. Palaniswami said in the House, replying to DMK MLA Siva V. Meyyanathan (Alangudi). Recalling incidents from the past when erstwhile Central governments had sanctioned funds quite lower than the sum sought by the State government, Mr. Palaniswami said: “So the Centre has never sanctioned the funds we sought.”
Always the case
That was the case even when the DMK and the Congress were in power in the State and at the Centre respectively, he pointed out.
“When you [DMK] were part of the alliance [with the Congress], only limited funds were sanctioned. We [AIADMK] are not in alliance [with the BJP]. We are not in the [BJP] government at the Centre,” Mr. Palaniswami said. He also reiterated that one lakh housing units would be constructed for cyclone-affected families in the districts. While replying to a special calling attention motion moved by Opposition parties in the House over Cyclone Gaja relief operations, Mr. Palaniswami said 52 human lives were lost, 5.57 lakh houses were damaged, 2.21 lakh goats, cattle and birds were lost, and agricultural and horticultural crops cultivated in 1.22 lakh hectare were affected.
The Chief Minister also announced that the earlier compensation of ₹85,000 to each damaged boat and net would be increased to ₹1.50 lakh, after considering the representations received from several MLAs. He also said relief kits had been distributed for 6.39 lakh cyclone-affected families at a cost of ₹233.59 crore.
Presently, 28,644 workers were involved in restoring power supply to affected areas and of the 66,56,369 power connections that were disrupted, a total of 65,78,590 connections had been restored, he said. “Due to the works that are underway on a war-footing, 99% of the work has been completed,” Mr. Palaniswami said.
