The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : Depute Central team immediately: Jayalalithaa

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Nov 16, 2004

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

Depute Central team immediately: Jayalalithaa

By Our Special Correspondent

CHENNAI, NOV. 15. The Chief Minister, Jayalalithaa, today requested the Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, to depute a Central team immediately to assess the damage caused by floods in the State in the last few weeks and recommend assistance from the National Calamity Contingency Fund (NCCF) for relief and restoration works. She sent a memorandum seeking assistance of Rs.411.73 crores from the NCCF. In her letter to Dr. Singh, she said Cuddalore, Nagapattinam, Tiruvarur, Thanjavur, Villupuram and the Nilgris districts had received rainfall far above the normal precipitation last month. It had a peak intensity and caused widespread inundation and floods.

Recalling that she reviewed the situation on November 1 and sanctioned Rs. 5 crores from the Calamity Relief Fund (CRF) for immediate relief operations, she said she also instructed the Collectors to supply food to displaced persons, restore road traffic, close breaches in tanks and drainage canals.

She constituted two teams of officers to assess the damage. Two of her Ministerial colleagues visited the affected areas in the first week of November to guide the officials in organising relief work.

Farmers dejected

Ms. Jayalalithaa said the State had been reeling under drought for three successive years and the farmers in the delta, who were the worst affected by non-release of Cauvery water and the failure of monsoon, were hoping that this year they would be able to raise at least one crop successfully. "They are now totally dejected by the flooding of paddy fields within 30 to 45 days of transplantation."

Apart from causing extensive damage to the standing crops, the floods rendered many poor people homeless, resulted in breach of tanks and canals and wrecked many important roads. The heavy rainfall also caused landslips in the Nilgiris, affecting the normal flow of traffic.

Though the Government took up relief operations on a war-footing, substantial support "is necessary to complete the relief and restoration works," she said. The State's CRF was already exhausted. "Unless substantial allocation is made from the NCCF, it will be difficult to tackle the situation."

The State Government also prepared a detailed memorandum, which set out the relief operations undertaken and the support needed from the NCCF.

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