Rs 2,640 crore released so far as flood relief: Rosaiah

The Tamil Nadu Governor’s customary New Year address to the State Assembly lauded the state government for minimising the loss of human lives by taking advance precautionary measures and revealed that a total of Rs 2,640 crores had been released so far under flood relief. Under the astute leadership of J Jayalalithaa, the state machinery brought back normalcy in a short span of time. 

The governor also placed on record his appreciation for the spontaneous response from the public, particularly youth and various institutions who extended their help and exhibited solidarity, compassion and brotherhood. 

“Immediate repairs of damaged public infrastructure such as roads, bridges, culverts, irrigation systems, buildings have been taken up at a cost of Rs 595.82 crore and the government provided a relief of Rs 5,000 to all hut dwellers, irrespective of whether their huts were fully or partly damaged,” he added. All the affected families in inundated areas who lost their personal effects such as clothing and utensils, an assistance of Rs 5,000 was sanctioned. Hut dwellers affected by inundation and hut damage had been provided with a total financial assistance of Rs 10,000. 

The declaration of the state as flood affected facilitated re-scheduling of crop- loans and the allied sector loans including loans disbursed to MSME Sector. 

The governor said the state government had acted swiftly and co-ordination teams, comprising ministers and senior officials, were deployed to each flood affected district. Massive rescue and relief operations were carried out on a war footing, in close co-ordination with the Central Government agencies and lakhs of people were evacuated from the inundated and low-lying areas. 

Thanking the Union Government for sending a central team and for the timely release of Rs 1,000 crore from the National Disaster Response Fund on December three after Prime Minister Narendra Modi made on the spot assessment, the governor said the Centre also declared the floods as a “calamity of severe nature.” “I am happy to place on record that such sustained efforts have earned the state the status of a model welfare state and a forerunner in conceptualising and implementing many inclusive development and welfare programmes,” he added. 

One of the laudable achievements of this Government is the formulation and launching of the Vision 2023 Document, an ambitious and aspirational document, to enable the State to achieve a higher level of growth through planned development within a specified time-frame.