CHENNAI: Taking stock of the situation in districts affected by Gaja, Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami on Friday directed the district administrations to carry out relief and rescue operations on a war-footing while deputing senior ministers to monitor and expedite relief works. He also said a detailed report on the damage would be sent to the Centre soon.
Putting the death toll in rain-related incidents at 13, Palaniswami said Rs 10 lakh each would be given as solatium to the bereaved families. Similarly, Rs 1 lakh each would be given to those who have suffered serious injuries and Rs 25,000 to those who suffered minor injuries.
Meanwhile, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh called up the CM and enquired him about the situation in the cyclone-affected areas and assured all possible assistance from the Centre in mitigating the situation arising due to the cyclone.
The Union Minister also directed the Home Secretary to monitor the situation and provide all help to the State administration.
During the telephonic conversation, the CM explained that relief works were apace on a war-footing and over 82,000 persons had been moved to relief shelters.
Meanwhile, in a statement here, Palaniswami said he had deputed State Ministers Dindigul C Sreenivasan, P Thangamani, SP Velumani, D Jayakumar and RB Udhayakumar to cyclone-hit districts to coordinate relief works. Already, Ministers R Kamaraj, OS Manian, MC Sampath, C Vijaya Baskar, R Doraikkannu and M Manikandan are on the ground, monitoring relief works in various districts.
The CM said he had deputed the following senior police officers to coordinate policing in cyclone-affected areas: ADGP (hqrs) M Ravi (Thanjavur), ADGP (Welfare) P Thamarai Kannan (Tiruvarur), ADGP (Armed Police), Mohammed Shakeel Akhter (Nagapattinam) and ADGP (Railways) C Sylendra Babu for setting right the damaged railway lines.