CHENNAI: Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami and Deputy CM O Panneerselvam on Monday held discussions with Prime Minister Narendra Modi about the damage caused by heavy rains that lashed Tami Nadu, and submitted a memorandum seeking assistance of Rs 1,500 crore to put in place a lasting solution to the stagnation of water in low-lying areas.
The discussions, which lasted for 25 minutes, took place at INS Adyar where the Prime Minister arrived in a helicopter from Chennai airport to take part in the platinum jubilee celebrations of ‘Dhina Thanthi’.
Later, speaking at the Tamil daily’s function, Modi conveyed his condolences and sympathies to the people, who had lost their near and dear relations, or faced hardships in the recent heavy rains and floods in Tamil Nadu. He also promised all possible support to the State government.
Speaking to mediapersons after giving a send-off to the prime minister at the airport, the chief minister said Modi was briefed about how Chennai, Kancheepuram, Tiruvallur, Nagai and Tiruvarur were affected by heavy rains. He also thanked Modi for his promise of support.
Responding to a question, Palaniswami said the residential areas in low-lying areas took shape long time ago and the government was doing everything possible to remove the water stagnated in these places.
“The areas surrounding Chennai district remained villages in the past and without any proper permission, people constructed houses there. For example, people built houses in the area below Narayanapuram lake where water stagnates. Government is taking steps for evacuating water from such places quickly,” he added.
Earlier, the Prime Minister arrived at the Chennai airport at 9.06 am and since it was raining, he could not address the BJP cadre there.State BJP president Tamilisai Soundararajan, national general secretary Muralidhar Rao, national secretary H Raja, member of Parliament L Ganesan and senior functionaries of the party in Tamil Nadu met Modi.