Steps initiated for quick response to disaster: PTR

Chief Minister MK Stalin-led government is paying more attention on how best to tackle disasters aimed at enhancing overall safety of people, PTR Palanivel Thiaga Rajan, Finance Minister, said during the inauguration of Fire and Rescue Services office in Madurai on Monday. 

Natural disasters were unexpected events, but at the same time, government would be liable to mitigate such risks and the society too. It’s also the duty of companies to commit themselves in adopting risk reduction strategies, the Minister told reporters. 

On the flood situation in Chennai in 2015, he pointed out that the CAG released a special report, which insisted on proper functioning of state level disaster management committee and the need for periodical meetings either in three or six months to check whether rules and regulations were properly followed to ensure disaster management response. But, the erstwhile state government’s disaster management committee did not even meet once during the three years from 2012. The previous government did not even submit a report, which he asked for, on the fire tragedy inside Sri Meenakshi Sundarewarar Temple in Madurai in 2018, Thiaga Rajan said. 

Pointing out the DMK government’s commitment to improve water situation in the state, the Minister then said that water was released from the Vaigai dam, which reached nearly its full capacity, on June 1 after several years. Despite being rain deficit, there was steady flow in Vaigai at Madurai this year and Mariamman Teppakulam in Madurai also got filled unlike previous years. The storage was almost up thrice in Teppakulam, where boating service has also resumed. 

If water resource management was done effectively, the vulnerability to hazards of natural disaster origin could be reduced to some extent, Thiaga Rajan said. More importantly, for the first time in Tamil Nadu, the 2021 budget focused on opposing climate change regulation and steps to increase environmental sustainability, he added.