Rains batter southern TN; CM directs ministerial delegation to oversee relief

Tamil Nadu Chief MinisterK Palaniswami on Wednesday said he has deputed a ministerialdelegation to immediately visit the rain battered southerndistricts of Tirunelveli, Tuticorin and Tenkasi and expeditethe process of relief and restoration work there.

Also, with the unprecedented torrential rainsdevastating paddy and other crops, he has ordered theagriculture and revenue officials to assess the extent ofcrop loss of farmers, he said.

''We have received an excess rainfall of 108.7 mmagainst the normal rainfall of 10.2 mm in January. As aresult, Cuddalore, Thanjavur, Tiruvarur, Nagapattinam,Pudukottai, Sivaganga, Ramanthapuram, Tuticorin, Tirunelveli,Tenkasi, Villupuram, Kallakurichi and Tiruvallur distictswere affected,'' he said in a statement.

''I have asked Revenue Minister R B Udayakumar,information minister Kadambur C Raju and Adi Dravidarminister V M Rajalakshmi to visit Tuticorin, Tirunelveli andTenkasi districts and expedite the process of relief andrestoration activities,'' he added.

Palaniswami said he has directed the Collectors ofthe respective districts to evacuate the people living in thelow level areas to safe places and provide them relief.

Assuring that all affected farmers would becompensated for their crop loss, Palaniswami said hisgovernment has sanctioned Rs 565.46 crore, high and above thelimits permitted during calamitous times, towards thecompensation for crop loss of farmers due to Nivar and Burevicyclones in 2020-end.

Of the sum, about Rs 487 crore has been directlytransferred to the bank accounts of the affected farmers andthe process of disbursing the remaining amount is on.

The sudden heavy rains threw life out of gear in thesouthern districts inundating several areas and even causedthe water level in the reservoirs to swell.

The Tamirabharani river is in spate and several low-lying areas are flooded.

Nearly 29,000 cusecs of water was released from thePapanasam and Manimuthar dams initially and the quantum wasenhanced to 51,000 cusecs as the level in these two damsincreased rapidly, a Public Works Department official said.

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