CHENNAI: Chief Minister ‘Edappadi’ K Palaniswami on Monday distributed interim relief assistance of `15 crore to 30,000 families of fishermen in three coastal districts – Chennai, Kancheepuram and Tiruvallur – who were affected by the recent oil spill.
Each family received cheque for `5,000 from the chief minister at a public function held at RK Nagar. Families of 10 fishermen who had lost their lives during cyclone Vardah and families of eight fishermen who had lost their lives due to various reasons received an assistance of `1 lakh each from the chief minister.
Meanwhile, in a simple function held at the Secretariat, the chief minister commenced the disbursal of drought relief to 31 farmers from 31 districts except Chennai. A fortnight ago, the chief minister had announced that standing crops in 50,34,237 acres belonging to 32,30,191 farmers had been lost due to drought.
As per the disaster relief guidelines, `5,465 per acre would be given for paddy and other agricultural crops; for rainfed crops, `3,000 and for long-term crops `7,287 would be given. For mulberry cultivation, subsidy ranging from `2,428 to `3,000 per acre would be given.
Speaking at the RK Nagar function, the chief minister recalled the various welfare measures being implemented by the State government for the past six years and said this government would continue to strive for the welfare of the fishermen.
As many as 115 letters had been written to the prime minister for securing the release of fishermen arrested by Lankan Navy, the chief minister said and reiterated that speedy steps were being taken to release the 85 fishermen from Tamil Nadu and their 128 boats now under Lankan custody.
Palaniswami said the State government was taking steps to get `135.35 crore from insurance companies through the Central government as compensation for the damages caused by oil spill. Further, he had met Union Minister Nitin Gadkari on February 28 and requested him to release `75 crore as interim relief to the fishermen. Finance and Fisheries Minister D Jayakumar presided over the function. Chief Secretary Girija Vaidyanathan and senior officials took part.