Ditwah disaster manmade, EPS slams TN govt

CHENNAI: AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami has accused the DMK government of failing to take precautionary measures ahead of Cyclone Ditwah, resulting in severe flooding, crop loss and hardship across several districts.

In a statement, he said thousands of acres of agricultural land have been submerged, leaving many towns and villages inundated. Despite receiving advance warnings from the Meteorological Department, the government “failed to take even basic preventive steps,” he said.

Palaniswami alleged that vulnerable water bodies were not desilted, and weakened irrigation structures were not strengthened ahead of the cyclone. Large parts of Nagapattinam and Mayiladuthurai districts remain waterlogged, he said, adding that the situation in Tirunelveli district had pushed thousands of families to the brink.

Ally CPI seeks immediate aid

Meanwhile, the ruling DMK's ally CPI has also sought the State government's immediate intervention to relieve farmers from the wrath of the monsoon. CPI state secretary M Veerapandian on Monday urged the state government to provide immediate compensation to farmers whose standing crops have been severely damaged by the heavy rains triggered by Cyclone Ditwah.

Of the 1.62 lakh acres under samba and thaladi paddy cultivation in Nagapattinam, crops on 50,000 acres had been completely submerged, the CPI leader said. Another 60,000 acres remain waterlogged.

In Thanjavur district, crops on 13,100 acres have been submerged. Mayiladuthurai, Tiruvarur and Pudukottai districts have also reported extensive crop damage. Altogether, 2.22 lakh acres of farmland in the Delta region are under water, making further agricultural activity impossible, he said. This has caused severe economic distress to farmers, who are deeply worried and anguished, he said.

Veerapandian urged the State government to provide a compensation of Rs 35,000 per acre to mitigate the losses suffered by farmers. He also called on the Union government to immediately release the relief funds sought by the State, and not deny assistance to Tamil Nadu’s farmers and people affected by the natural calamity.

He added that several residential areas in different districts had been flooded, damaging many houses. Livestock, including cattle and goats, had perished in the rain-related incidents, and these losses, too, must be compensated.

In Mayiladuthurai district, a 19-year-old youth named Prathap died of electrocution after coming into contact with a snapped live wire, while in Kumbakonam taluk, a 20-year-old woman, Renuka, was killed when a wall collapsed. The CPI urged the State government to provide immediate compensation to their families.

The party also appealed to the government to undertake swift desilting of clogged drainage channels across the Delta districts to restore normalcy.