The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : Jayalalithaa announces Rs.153.37-cr. relief

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Dec 29, 2004

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

Jayalalithaa announces Rs.153.37-cr. relief

By Our Special Correspondent

CHENNAI, DEC. 28. The Chief Minister, Jayalalithaa, today announced a Rs.153.37-crore relief package to those affected by Sunday's tsunami along the Tamil Nadu coast. Part of it is a general package for all the affected and a separate package for fishermen. Instead of the earlier announced relief of Rs. 1 lakh to the next of kin of the dead, each family would be given Rs. 1 lakh for every member killed. "This is only the first package. A detailed assessment is under way," she said.

A total of 3,925 persons were killed, 40 per cent of them children. Nagapattinam accounted for 2,414 deaths, Ms. Jayalalithaa said.

Each affected family will be given one dhoti, one sari, two bedsheets, 60 kg of rice, three litres of kerosene and Rs. 1,000 in cash to buy condiments, oil, pulses, etc; Rs. 1,000 to purchase utensils and Rs. 2,000 for putting up a hut. The package for each family will cost about Rs. 5000. This will be given to about one lakh families.

For fishermen

Fishermen will be given a special Rs. 65-crore package in addition to this. The Government will provide Rs. 20,000 to replace each gill net in 10,000 `vallams.' This will cost the Government Rs. 20 crores. An aid of Rs. 10,000 will be given to replace gill nets in 20,000 catamarans, which will cost the Government a further Rs. 20 crores.

The Chief Minister, Jayalalithaa addressing the media at the Secretariat in Chennai on Tuesday.

As many as 10,000 vallams will be repaired/rebuilt and the State will provide Rs. 15 crores towards this (at Rs. 15,000 for each unit). About 20,000 catamarans will be rebuilt at a cost of Rs. 10 crores (at Rs. 5,000 for each unit). "This will enable fishermen to undertake fishing operations immediately and is based only on the immediate assessment made," she said.

Contributions — in cash or kind — could be sent to the District Collector. The Collector would ensure that the relief reached the affected districts. People from outside the State could send their donations in kind to the Chairman and Managing Director of the Tamil Nadu Civil Supplies Corporation, Chennai.

The State was conducting a study of the losses. Once it was completed, "a detailed package will be worked out for providing outboard motors [on] mechanised boats and trawl nets. So, funds have been provided to the Director of Fisheries to undertake this task."

Relocation

Permanent rehabilitation will be taken up later. This will include "reconstruction of houses, provision of boats and nets and anything they will require to start a new life. This will be an enormous package running into several hundred crores."

Ms. Jayalalithaa said she was keen that all the fishermen families were "suitably relocated with their consent at a safe location as near as possible to their existing habitation."

Ms. Jayalalithaa said that she had requested the Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, and the Union Home Minister, Shivraj Patil, to provide a special assistance package to Tamil Nadu.

The Chief Minister's party, All-India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, contributed Rs. 1 crore to the CM's Relief Fund, while Sri Jaya Publications, in which Ms. Jayalalithaa is a partner, has donated Rs. 25 lakhs.

On the complaint that relief had not been effective in some places in Nagapattinam, she said that this was not correct. No one had anticipated the tsunami. Hence, the initial reaction was one of shock. But on Monday, the process of finding and cremating/burying bodies was undertaken on a war-footing. Today, debris was being cleared with the help of the Army.

She dismissed the charge that the State Government was lethargic, saying that all the comments of "nincompoops" should be ignored.

"At a moment of national tragedy, it is sheer pettiness to make such unfortunate remarks. I feel it is best ignored so that we can concentrate on the task at hand which is enormous."

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