CHENNAI: Responding to Union Finance Nirmala Sitharaman’s claims on Friday that the Centre has released Rs 900 crore towards the State Disaster Relief Fund, Finance Minister Thangam Thennarasu said the state had sought Rs 21,692 crore but the Centre had released just Rs 450 crore.
“This is usually done every year when we ask for the floods to be declared ‘a calamity of severe nature’ and additional funds should be allocated specifically for this,” the minister said in the statement.
He went on to say from 2015, the state government had sought Rs 1.27 lakh crore for interim and permanent relief but the centre has only released Rs 5,884 crore. “This is a mere 4.61% of the amount sought. It seems as if BJP will allocate funds only in proportion to its vote share in the state,” the statement said.
Responding to Sitharaman’s criticism of Stalin’s meeting with INDIA bloc, Thennarasu said his trip to Delhi was planned with the meeting with the prime minister in mind. Meanwhile, Stalin when addressing the gathering during the party’s Christmas celebrations said ‘Edappadi’ K Palaniswami is resorting to cheap politics instead of helping people during a disaster.
“When I visited the affected districts, residents said government machinery had functioned well and it saved them. During this time, the opposition should have stood by the government to help people but no one came forward,” Stalin added.