Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin on Wednesday wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi requesting him to advise the Union Ministry of Home Affairs to release the central assistance sought for by the State towards the restoration of infrastructure that were damaged during the Northeast monsoon.
The Central team for assessing the damages due to incessant rains visited Tamil Nadu on November 21. The State government has submitted so far, three memoranda seeking relief assistance from Government of India to the tune of ₹1,510.83 crore for temporary restoration and ₹4,719.62 crore for permanent restoration of damaged infrastructure like roads, bridges and public buildings etc.
The memoranda were submitted on November 16 and 25 and on December 15. A copy of the Chief Minister’s letter to the Prime Minister was circulated to the media.
“The financial position of the State government has been under severe stress due to COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent flood situation only accentuated it. The State Disaster Response funds have also been fully utilised. As you may agree, the affected people need to be compensated at the earliest to enable them to get over the present impact of the floods and also to reconstruct the damaged infrastructure so that transport, irrigation, education etc., are put back in track,” Mr. Stalin said.
Tamil Nadu witnessed “unprecedented’ rains in the Northeast monsoon season this year, resulting in heavy flooding, inundation of habitations, crop lands, loss of life of humans and animals, damage to standing crops and infrastructure.
The Government of Tamil Nadu took expeditious relief operations and restored normalcy in the shortest possible time, Mr. Stalin contended and requested the PM to arrange to advise the Union Ministry of Home Affairs to release the central assistance at the earliest.
