Tamil Nadu - Nagapattinam   

Rs. 368-crore damages in initial estimate: Stalin

Taking stock of damage: Local Administration Minister M.K. Stalin, second from right, inspecting the Vedaranyam canal near Talainayar on Saturday.

NAGAPATTINAM: With the district administration working round the clock to plug all breaches in canals and restore basic amenities to all areas, Nagapattinam district is expected to return to normality within the next 2-3 days, Local Administration Minister M. K. Stalin said here on Saturday.

He said that an initial estimate of damages due to the recent spell of heavy rains was put at around Rs. 368-crore, and said that a thorough assessment would be made soon.

Mr. Stalin said: “The Chief Minister sent senior IAS officers to all the districts affected due to the rains to report regularly on progress and help speed up the process. He also asked me to look at the districts of Thanjavur, Tiruvarur, Cuddalore and Nagapattinam which had been severely affected and report to him immediately.”

Speaking to presspersons at Nagapattinam after inspecting damages in different parts of the district, Mr. Stalin said that the over 3.75-lakh people in 523 villages had been affected in the district. The average rainfall received in the month (785.5 mm) was more than double the normal (337 mm) and the flood situation due to overflowing of water from the upper reaches had also compounded the problem, he said.

There had been 13 deaths till date, with 178 heads of cattle dead. Over 94,000 hectare of samba paddy had also been submerged and nearly 212 homes had been damaged.

However, the district administration was taking up works on a war footing, and all affected people were being housed in 641 shelters, with over 11-lakh food packets distributed to them. Other facilities were also being provided, he said.

The Rs. 100-crore package already announced by the State government would be used for immediate relief activities, and damage assessment would be taken up at the earliest. In the meanwhile all possible help would be rendered to the people to bring the district back to normalcy within the next 2-3 days, he said.

He also said that long-term measures including the cleaning up of canals and finding a solution to the problems of the tail-end region would be considered once the immediate relief measures were completed. Answering a question on tsunami settlements in low-lying areas getting flooded frequently, he said that the Collector had already considered the issue and land-filling and provision of weathering courses would be taken up at the earliest.

The Minister earlier arrived from Tiruvarur district and inspected the Vedaranyam canal near Talainayar. He proceeded to Nagapattinam and visited Poompuhar and assessed damages around Sirkazhi and Mayiladuthurai before leaving for Thanjavur district.

District Collector M. Jayaraman said that the Tirumarugal area, which had been badly hit due to breaches in the Mudikondan and Arasilar was being attended to by a special team. Nineteen breaches had already been sealed and work was on to ensure the safety of the people.

Personnel from the Police and Fire departments were also constantly monitoring the situation, and a team led by Superintendent of Police Ashwin Kotnis rescued stranded villagers near Talainayar by boat. Rivers continued to be in spate but officials said that water would start receding soon with rains having stopped to a large extent.

Dairy Development Minister U. Mathivanan, A. K. S. Vijayan, MP and the MLAs accompanied the Local Administration Minister.

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