CHENNAI: Denying the charges of DMK chief M Karunanidhi over flood-relief works, Chief Minister O Panneerselvam on Wednesday said the nonagenarian can’t hoodwink the people anymore as they are witness to the relief works undertaken on a warfooting in the affected areas.
In a statement here, the Chief Minister said the government had taken precautionary steps to face the eventualities of the north-east monsoon and Ministers and top officials visited rain-hit areas and expedited the relief works besides consoling the affected people.
On the allegation of Karunanidhi that paddy crop in six lakh acres was under water after heavy rains, Panneerselvam said it was confined to only in 53,000 acres. Once the water recedes, crop damage would be assessed and appropriate relief would be given to the farmers, he added.
Regarding the charges on damages to the roads and water clogging in Chennai, the Chief Minister said this was quite normal during heavy rains. Of the 3,070 pits caused by rains in 797 roads in Chennai, it was set right in 2,505 places and the works were on in other places. Apart from this, 4,765 km stretch of roads have been damaged in the north-east monsoon rains so far and for repairing them, Rs.60 crore had already been allocated.
The Chief Minister also pointed out the solatium announced for the families of 30 victims of rain-related incidents and financial assistance given to the damaged hutments and those who had lost their cattle.
Debunking the the DMK coming forward to repair the damage to the Kamalalayam tank in Tiruvarur, Panneerselvam said already, the State government had allocated Rs 1.06 crore towards that work and repair works were on. Tenders would be called for repairing the west bank of the tank as well, he added.
Corpn continues repair work
Chennai: The Chennai Corporation on Wednesday claimed that it had covered up 3522 of the 3796 potholes identified by it in the city. In a statement the civic body said the North East Monsoon spell had damaged 913 roads in the city, leaving potholes measuring 32,122 sq mts in width. The corporation also said it had conducted 149 medical camps benefiting more than 14,000 civilians. The statement said the Corporation has been engaging its sanitary workers to fog places in order to prevent breeding of Aedes type mosquitoes, besides sprinkling MLO oil in water stagnant areas.