CHENNAI: AIADMK leaders O Panneerselvam and Edappadi K Palaniswami continued their visit to rain-affected areas in and around Chennai on Saturday as well and distributed flood relief materials to the affected people.
Denying Chief Minister Stalin’s charges that the previous AIADMK government failed to implement flood-prevention measures, Palaniswami listed the status of many schemes initiated during his tenure as chief minister.
“In undivided Kancheepuram district, stormwater drainage works were taken up at Rs 586 crore and 90 per cent of the works has been completed so far. In the Poonamallee-Avadi area, the Highways Department completed 90 per cent of the canal-laying works. The Cooum river in this area has also been desilted. The Adyar river, which looked like a small canal between Aadhanur and Thirumudivakkam, was widened at Rs 9 crore,” he added.
He then urged the government to provide a compensation of Rs 30,000 to the rain-affected farmers, claiming that standing crops on five lakh acres are underwater in delta districts.
In Thirumullaivoyal, 1,500 residential quarters for police personnel were constructed but even after six months in power, the DMK government did not inaugurate these quarters, he alleged. At Pattabhiram too, the Tidel park project was completed during the AIADMK regime but the facility is yet to be opened, he added. Meanwhile, Panneerselvam urged the DMK government to expedite the relief and restoration works.