The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : It's the Centre's duty to help State, says Jayalalithaa

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Dec 07, 2005

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

It's the Centre's duty to help State, says Jayalalithaa

Special Correspondent

I will meet Prime Minister Manmohan Singh if necessary, says Chief Minister

I AM WITH YOU: Chief Minister Jayalalithaa consoling a woman at a flood relief centre in Injambakkam, on the outskirts of Chennai, on Tuesday. — Photo: V. Ganesan

CHENNAI: Assuring the flood affected that the State Government would not spare any effort in providing relief, besides rehabilitating them, Chief Minister Jayalalithaa on Tuesday said she would meet Prime Minister Manmohan Singh if necessary to highlight the demand for adequate Central assistance.

She visited some of the badly affected coastal villages in Kancheepuram district which, along with Chennai and Tiruvallur districts, bore the brunt of the fourth spell of heavy rain from December 2 to 4.

"Don't worry about anything. My Government gives top priority to protecting you and your well-being" was her refrain during her interaction with the flood victims at relief centres in Vettuvankeni, Injambakkam and Sholinganallur. She listened to grievances of some women at these centres and distributed the relief package to some of the affected.

Asked if the State had received spontaneous response from other States for providing flood relief, she said assistance had been sought only from the Centre. "It is the Centre's duty to come to the need of the State. As I have already said, people of Tamil Nadu are also citizens of India and the Centre is duty bound to help them."

To a query, she said the State had not received any Central fund other than the advance of Rs.500 crore.

Referring to her telephonic conversation with Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil on Monday, Ms. Jayalalithaa said she had asked him to provide Central assistance expeditiously based on the demands advanced by the State through three memoranda.

The Chief Minister was accompanied by some of her Cabinet colleagues and officials including Chief Secretary N. Narayanan, Commissioner of Revenue Administration R. Santhanam, Director General of Police A.X. Alexander, Kancheepuram Collector R. Venkatesan and Commissioner of Police R. Nataraj.

Ms. Jayalalithaa said the discharge in the Adyar and Cooum rivers had come down drastically compared to the situation that prevailed on December 4. The flow in the Adyar had come down from 31,000 to 15,000 cusecs and in the Cooum, it had dropped from 15,000 to 7000 cusecs. The water level in the Adyar had come down by over five feet.

Reiterating that relief measures were being taken up on a war footing, she said 12,925 persons had been provided food and shelter at 30 relief centres in the district as on Tuesday. Around 2.04 lakh food packets had been distributed. A total of 12 mobile health units were providing medical assistance in the district.

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