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Declare Tamil Nadu floods as national calamity
J Jayalalithaa in a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, urged for an immediate declaration of the TN floods as a national calamity
By
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Chennai
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa today urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to declare the unprecedented floods in the state as a national calamity and proposed measures, including a moratorium on home and vehicle loans, to enable affected families rebuild lives.
“I request you to immediately declare this unprecedented, catastrophic and cataclysmic event a national calamity,” she said in a letter to Modi. For flood-hit households many of whom are in the low and middle income groups, she proposed a special set of measures like soft loans, speeding up insurance claims disbursal and moratorium by banks on EMIs.
Referring to the destruction caused by the four rounds of floods in most districts, she said there has been extensive damage to infrastructure as well as to the private property of thousands of families. Many households had lost valuables like personal effects and domestic durable assets, she said and added that “it cannot be adequately compensated through the existing structure of relief payments.”
“The insurance companies may be directed to take up the survey and settlement of the claims on a campaign mode, and with a liberal application of norms so that such households could receive insurance payments early,” she said.
“I suggest that the banks may be directed to provide a limited moratorium on repayment, as well as a rescheduling of the loans, which would lower the Equated Monthly Instalment payments and offer a measure of relief,” the CM said.
Many affected families also lost their personal vehicles and almost all their durable domestic assets, including furniture, refrigerators, television sets, washing machines and kitchen equipment, she said.
“I suggest that, as a special case, flood-affected families may be liberally extended soft loans by banks for purchase of vehicles, educational loans to continue to fund the education of children and personal loans of an amount up to Rs five lakh to finance essential domestic durable assets.”
State’s demands
- Insurance firms to be directed to settle claims on priority basis.
- Banks to be directed to reschedule loan repayment to ease EMI burden.
- Exercise duty exemption needed till Mar 31 2016 for domestic, electric appliances
- Flood-affected families to be extended soft loans for purchase of vehicles, educational loans and personal loans up to Rs five lakh.
MPs asked to donate to flood relief
It was suggested that MPs from all parties contribute a share of their salary to victims of the floods.
A resolution expressing solidarity with the people of Tamil Nadu following the Chennai floods is likely to be moved in Parliament where MPs from all parties would be contributing a share of their salary to flood relief effort. The MPs of BJP were informed about this at the party’s parliamentary group meet. The decision was endorsed by all MPs, including PM Narendra Modi. Parliamentary Affairs Minister M Venkaiah Naidu suggested the measure and it was supported by all members.
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