MAYILADUTHURAI: Visiting a rain-battered Mayiladuthurai on Wednesday, the leader of opposition Edappadi K Palaniswami lambasted Chief Minister MK Stalin for remarking that the residents of the district were content with the flood-relief works. Rather, they are in tears and in a state of distress, Palaniswami said and demanded that the government provide Rs 30,000 per acre of crop damage.
The former chief minister inspected the situation in villages such as Nallur and Vettankudi and interacted with farmers and heard their grievances along the way. Talking to reporters in Thalaichankadu, Palaniswami said: “The Tamil Nadu government should intervene as it is a matter of livelihood for the farmers here. Rs 30,000 per acre should be provided as compensation, which is the amount Stalin demanded in January 2021, when I was the chief minister.”
Further, refuting Stalin’s claims that the people were content with the relief works, Palaniswami said: “Stalin is happy, no doubt about that. Once he became the chief minister, however, people lost their happiness.” Palaniswami also stressed extending relief amount to ration cardholders in the whole of Mayiladuthurai, increasing the relief amount from Rs 1,000 to Rs 3,000 and extending insurance registration deadline for Rabi crops till the end of the month. Vedaranyam MLA and former minister OS Manian, former MLAs S Pavunraj, V Radhakrishan, and PV Bharathi were present.
Govt not doing enough: BJP
BJP state president K Annamalai also visited the district and inspected crop damage in villages such as Achalpuram, Nallur, Vettankudi, Thiruvenkadu and Radhanallur, before distributing relief materials.
Annamalai told reporters in Radhanallur, “At present, the State government is not working at a war-footing. They should have been better prepared to tackle such a situation.” Other political parties too had remanded a raise in compensation for crop damage.