Cyclone relief: Centre releases Rs 450 cr to Tamil Nadu; protests hit Chennai

Chennai: Union Government on Thursday said it will release Rs 450 crore to Tamil Nadu for carrying out relief activities of the damages caused by Cyclone Michaung and approved an urban flood mitigation project at a cost of Rs 561.29 crore for Chennai, even as Defence Minister Rajnath Singh conducted an aerial survey of the affected areas.

Singh, who was accompanied by Chief Secretary Shiv Das Meena, did an aerial survey of the rain-affected areas in Chennai and its neighbouring districts of Tiruvallur, Chengalpattu, and Kanchipuram, said Prime Minister Narendra Modi was distressed about the damages due to rain in Tamil Nadu.

Chief Minister M K Stalin handed over a memorandum to Singh detailing the help needed from the Union Government for relief and rehabilitation activities in the four districts and expressed the hope that a high-level team from the Home Ministry will visit the state for a detailed assessment of the damages. Stalin has sought Rs 5,000 crores as interim relief from the Centre.

In New Delhi, Home Minister Amit Shah said the Prime Minister has approved the first urban flood mitigation project of Rs. 561.29 crore for ‘Integrated Urban Flood Management activities for Chennai Basin Project’ under the National Disaster Mitigation Fund (NDMF), which also includes Central assistance of Rs. 500 crore.

“To help the state Governments with the management of relief necessitated by the cyclonic storm, Prime Minister Narendra Modi directed the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) to release in advance the central share of the 2nd instalment of SDRF of Rs 493.60 crore to Andhra Pradesh and Rs 450 crore to Tamil Nadu,” the minister added.

He also said the country is witnessing more instances of metropolitan cities receiving excessive rainfall, leading to sudden flooding. “This mitigation project will help make Chennai flood-resilient. This is the first in a series of urban flood mitigation efforts and will help develop a broader framework for urban flood management,” Shah said.

Thursday also saw people in several parts of north Chennai losing patience with the government’s “slow” relief and rehabilitation process by taking to the streets. Ministers and public representatives were gheraoed by angry people who questioned the government’s failure to keep prices of essentials under check in areas like Pulianthope, and Vyasarpadi.

Addressing a press conference, Chief Secretary Meena said Chennai was slowly limping back to normalcy with power supply restored to 99.5 per cent of the areas by Thursday evening even as efforts are being taken to ensure that the remaining areas also get electricity supply by Friday.

On the shortage of milk, Meena said as many as 21 lakh litres of milk were made available on Thursday and that the government will launch about 150 mobile vegetable shops from Friday which will visit the flood-affected areas to sell vegetables and milk.