Tamil Nadu - Nagercoil   

Congress for deploying Army to extricate bodies

By Our Staff Reporter

NAGERCOIL, DEC. 29. The State unit of the Congress party has urged the Government to deploy para-military forces or Army to extricate dead bodies from the debris in the coastal villages, particularly Colachel in Kanyakumari district.

Speaking to presspersons on Wednesday, the Tamil Nadu Congress Committee president, G.K.Vasan, said it was unfortunate that even after four days, the Government had not done any basic work like removing dead bodies and distributing relief materials to the tsunami victims. In many relief camps, the medical team did not care to provide even first-aid to the injured. One could see non-governmental organisations, locals and the workers belonging to the United Progressive Alliance removing dead bodies. However they were not given adequate vehicles to move dead bodies to hospitals, gloves or medicines to give first-aid treatment. Officials did not visit relief camps and there was no Government mechanism to monitor the distribution of relief materials or rescue operations. The need of the hour is to provide relief materials to them. Hence the district administration must act on a war footing to ensure the welfare of the affected people.

Mr. Vasan said he came to know that there were quite a large number of human bodies and cattle heads lying in the AVM channel at Colachel and buried under sand in various coastal villages. Even though fire service and rescue personnel recovered hundreds of bodies, unless army or para-military forces were deployed, all the dead bodies could not be removed, which will pose a serious health hazard.

The States ruled by the Congress party had already contributed Rs. 25 crores to implement relief and rehabilitation measures. Steps will be taken to hand over maximum amount to Tamil Nadu. Moreover Congress MLAs and MPs had already agreed to donate their one-month salary to lend a helping hand to the affected fishermen. Necessary steps will also be taken to contribute a huge amount from the Tamil Nadu Congress Trust to render relief. The State unit will request Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to visit the tsunami-affected villages in Tamil Nadu, said Mr.Vasan.

Earlier he visited many villages affected by the tsunami and consoled the relatives of victims at Colachel and Lekshmipuram.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Tamil Nadu

News: Front Page | National | Tamil Nadu | Andhra Pradesh | Karnataka | Kerala | New Delhi | Other States | International | Opinion | Business | Sport | Miscellaneous | Engagements |
Advts: Classifieds | Employment | Updates: Breaking News |

Stories in this Section

Congress for deploying Army to extricate bodies
Form a panel, says Vaiko
CM coming today

Copyright © 2004, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu