CHENNAI: The Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa on Saturday deputed nine more senior IAS officers to the districts to take steps to face the monsoon fury and to coordinate relief works necessary, in light of the Meteorological Department’s forecast that coastal and interior districts were likely to get heavy rainfall in the next three days (November 15-17).
Already five senior IAS officers — Gagandeep Singh Bedi, K Rajaraman, SK Prabhakar, Pradeep Yadav and Rajesh Lakhoni — are camping in Cuddalore, Kancheepuram, Tiruvallur, Tiruvannamalai, Dharmapuri and Krishnagiri districts to monitor and expedite relief and rehabilitation works. Meanwhile, the Chief Minister granted a solatium of `4lakh to the families of six persons who died in rain-related incidents in Krishnagiri, Villupuram, Tirunelveli, Kancheepuram and Vellore distrcits in the last few days.
In a statement here, the Chief Minister said senior IAS officer T Sabitha would be camping in Vellore district while T Udhayachandran would be looking after Villupuram district. The other officers and the districts allotted to them are: Nagapattinam district (Shiv Das Meena), Ramanathapuram district (S Vijayakumar), Tiruvarur and Thanjavur districts (K Satyagopal), Pudukottai district (G Samayamurthi), Tuticorin district (Kumar Jayanth), Tirunelveli district (Senthil Kumar) and Kanyakumari district (Atul Anand).
Giving a detailed account of the precautionary steps taken to face the monsoon fury, the CM said, “When there is very heavy rainfall, the damages cannot be avoided. However, relief and rescue work have to be taken up on a war footing at such places.” On the relief work in Cuddalore district, worst-hit by the rains, the CM said 11,407 huts had been damaged fully and 53,149 huts partially and the distribution of compensation was going on. So far, financial assistance had been given to families of 27 persons who had lost their lives.
Because of the swift action, power supply had been restored in 635 village panchayats out of the 683 where power supply was hit. Traffic had also been restored in all National and State Highways. Vadalur-Kumbakonam High Road, damaged by the floods in Paravanar river, had been opened to traffic.
While 8,885 persons have been treated in 40 medical camps in Cuddalore district, 23,778 cattle stock was treated in 121 special camps and 73 tonnes of cattle feed had been distributed for free.
In Chennai, water stagnation was cleared on a war footing and 83,000 food packets were distributed to the affected people. In Kancheepuram district, 7,294 persons had been given shelter in relief camps. For facing any emergency, the National Disaster Rescue Force with five boats and 35 personnel, State Disaster Rescue Force’s 20-member team, Coastal Security Group’s 21 personnel have been kept ready. In Tiruvallur district, 1,620 persons have been sheltered in 20 relief camps while 5,500 food packets were distributed to those affected by rains.