NEW DELHI: The Centre has declared the floods in Tamil Nadu as a ‘calamity of severe nature’, Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa said on Thursday.
“During the visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to flood-affected areas on December 3, I have requested him to declare the damages caused by floods in Tamil Nadu as national calamity. Accepting my request, the Central government has declared the floods in the State as calamity of severe nature”, she said in a statement.
The Lok Sabha Secretariat had sent a circular to MPs to recommend relief and restoration works worth Rs 1 crore in the affected districts. MPs have been urged to send their acceptance letters to Union Ministry of Statistics and Plan Implementation.
“I have directed the Chief Secretary to inform the MPs about the relief and restoration works required to be undertaken in flood affected districts and asked all AIADMK MPs to allocate Rs 1 crore from their constituency development fund for this purpose,” the Chief Minister said. She recalled that though the north east monsoon commenced in Tamil Nadu belatedly from October 28, within a few days, heavy rains lashed four districts in four spells thus taking the storage in many lakes to the maximum. Further, water let out from Krishnapuram dam in Andhra Pradesh had also added to the woes and Kosasthalai river was flooding. In Cuddalore district, Kedilam, Paravanar, Chenkal Odai were overflowing with flood waters.
Following her letter dated November 23 to the Prime Minister, a central team visited the flood affected areas and once again, due to heavy rains, the northern districts of TN were severely affected by floods, she added.