CHENNAI: Chief Minister MK Stalin on Tuesday met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and urged him to immediately provide Rs 2,000 crore emergency relief from the National Disaster Relief Fund for livelihood support and to undertake temporary repair and restoration works in rain-ravaged Thoothukudi, Tirunelveli, Kanniyakumari and Tenkasi districts.
Stalin also urged Modi to declare the recent floods in Chennai region and the southern districts as a national disaster.
Briefing media persons at Tamil Nadu House in New Delhi earlier in the day, he referred to the deluge in Thoothukudi and Tirunelveli in particular and said, “The RMC, Chennai gave a forecast on December 17 about heavy rainfall on December 17 and 18. However, the districts recorded historically unprecedented rainfall, many times more than the predicted rainfall. For instance, Kayalpattinam recorded 94 cm rainfall.”
Stalin also wrote to Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh urging him to deploy more helicopters for the rescue and relief distribution to the stranded people in the marooned districts.