Cyclone Fengal: CM Stalin Reviews Relief, Calls for Union Support

Chennai:Regretting that DMK MPs were not allowed to draw the attention of Parliament on the havoc wreaked by Cyclone Fengal in the State, Chief Minister M K Stalin said his government had undertaken relief operation in right earnest by opening 174 relief centres and accommodated 7,876 persons who were being provided drinking water, food and medical facilities.

Speaking to the media at V V A Mahal in Villupuram East after personally visiting the flood-hit areas on Monday, Stalin said an estimated 1,29,000 hectares of standing crops had been submerged in the districts of Villupuram, Kallakurichi and Tiruvannamallai, where the floods had caused widespread devastation.

The exact quantum of damage to crops could be assessed only after water drained out completely, he said, adding that in Villupuram district power supply had been disrupted in various villages and town panchayats due to water logging and other mishaps. Over 900 workers were engaged in various operations to restore electricity, which would be done at the earliest, he said.

The heavy rains that lashed the northern districts for over two days had stopped in the coastal regions while the interior districts continued to bear the onslaught of the downpour, he said. A total of 18 teams of both National and State Disaster Response Forces (NDRF and SDRF) had been dispatched to the rain affected districts, he added.

Compensation for the families of those who lost their lives due to the floods, whose houses were damaged and who lost property like cattle would be paid in due course and as of now relief work was undertaken in a big way with the Deputy Chief Minister Udhyanidhi Stalin, other State Ministers, people’s representatives, monitoring officials, district collectors and NDRF and SDRF personnel fully involved in the operations, for which government officials from other districts had also been requisitioned, he said.

While 637 fire service personnel were involved in the rescue and relief operations in the affected districts, a special team with a senior IAS officer Anshul Mishra as head had been rushed to Tiruvannamalai district for rescue and relief work.

Stalin said that the State government would make a complete assessment of the damage and loss due to the floods and send a comprehensive report to the Union Government seeking relief. To a newsperson’s query if the Union Government would respond positively to the State’s request given its track record of neglecting such reports like when relief was sought after the Thoothukudi flood disaster, he said he hoped to get a response.

On the landslide in Tiruvannamalai that reportedly damaged three houses completely, trapping seven persons in the debris, Stalin said rescue operations were in full swing and that he spoke to PWD Minister E V Velu and the district collector concerned about it on his way to Villupuram.

He also discussed the situation with the district collectors and Ministers in charge of the districts of Cuddalore, Dharmapuri, Krishnagiri and Tiruvannamalai and instructed them to expedite the relief work and ensure that normalcy returned to the districts at the earliest.

To a question if the forecast by the weather department on the monsoon, which brought 50 cm rains to the State this time, was useful, the Chief Minister said it was somewhat useful.

Asked if he would continue his review in other districts, he said that only the districts of Villupuram, Cuddalore, Chennai and some place adjoining Chennai had been affected by the rains.