Heavy rain alert issued for all coastal districts of Tamil Nadu

The warning comes in the wake of Indian Meteorological Department’s forecast that heavy rains under the influence of a deep depression in Southeast Bay of Bengal will bring rains for Tamil Nadu, Andhra and Puducherry.

State revenue minister RB Udayakumar also urged the district Collectors to take precautionary measures and implement the monsoon working plan in low lying areas. Chief minister Edappadi K Palaniswami has instructed the government departments to be put on alert and the state disaster management authority control room will monitor the flood alleviation works.

Commenting about cyclone Gaja relief works, Udayakumar said, “A new integrated scheme for rebuilding the lives of Gaja victims was on at a cost of Rs 1,000 crore. Kodaikanal taluk in Dindigul district will also be covered under the scheme and government orders are being issued in this regard,” he said adding the poor affected by Gaja will be eligible for housing schemes.

“Further, the state is also concerned about the encroachments along water ways and commissioner of land administration has already taken up a survey to identify the public residing along river banks and water bodies. The revenue department will construct multi storied buildings in government land and accommodate those evacuated from the government land. Stringent norms will be followed for this scheme to ensure that only the poor are benefitted,” minister added.

When asked about villages still reeling under power cuts, the minister said that the district Collectors in delta were attending the issue. “In case of cash and relief materials, the district revenue authorities are on the job and the money will be directly deposited in the bank accounts of beneficiaries.”

“The state has submitted a detailed report to the centre seeking additional funds for the cyclone Gaja relief works. A comprehensive report seeking Rs 15,000 crore had been submitted to the centre seeking restoration of damaged infrastructure. For interim immediate release a sum of Rs 2,700 crore was demanded and awaited. Till now the centre had not released any funds and we are confident about getting adequate funds from the union government,” the minister added.

Nagapattinam district Collector inspected various restoration works including the newly installed transformer on Wednesday and said that the enumeration of damaged households has been completed and the compensation worth Rs 76.05 crore has been transferred to nearly 1.05 lakh beneficiaries to their respective bank account.

Speaking in the review meeting with the officials from all the departments, the Nagapattinam district collector Dr S Suresh Kumar said that the state government has released the compensation to the people who lost their houses from the places like Nagapattinam, Kizhvelur, Tirukuvalai and Vedaranyam.

He added that, “So far, a sum of Rs 76.05 crore has been transferred to 1.05 lakh beneficiaries. Similarly, the distribution of relief kits will be completed within a couple of days.”

Stating that the people lodged in camps have started to move to their places, the district Collector said, “The number of relief camps have been reduced to eight and only 1,148 families are still in the camps. Out of 49,000 EB posts damages, 39,781 have been replaces and as many as 592 transformers have been damaged of which 576 have been replaced.” 

He assured, “Presently, 100 per cent power supply has been restored in the town areas while 60 per cent has been completed in the rural areas and the power supply would be restored within a few days.”