Tamil Nadu given ₹353 crore for Gaja relief measures, says Union minister

Tamil Nadu has sought ₹15000 crore financial assistance from the Centre for carrying out long term rehabilitation programmes and ₹1500 crore for speeding up relief and restoration works

The Centre has sanctioned ₹353 crore to Tamil Nadu for relief and restoration in the delta districts ravaged by cyclone Gaja, Union minister Pon Radhakrishnan said on Saturday.

Coconut trees and several other plants uprooted due to the Cyclone Gaja in Pudukottai, Tamil Nadu (PTI File Photo) (PTI)

Speaking to media at the airport, he also said that declaring the calamity as a national disaster will be considered after receiving the report of the central team which visited the affected areas and once the full details of the loss is at hand.

Tamil Nadu has sought ₹15000 crore financial assistance from the Centre for carrying out long term rehabilitation programmes and ₹1500 crore for speeding up relief and restoration works. Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami had met Prime Minister Narendra Modi on November 22, and presented a memorandum in this regard.

Cyclone ‘Gaja’, which crossed the Tamil Nadu coast on November 16, claimed at least 45 lives and left a trail of destruction, uprooting 1.7 lakh trees and damaging 88,102 hectares of agricultural land in the area. Thousands of livestock was also killed, and property, standing crops, coconut groves, banana plantations and power distribution infrastructure damaged in several districts.

It had caused a severe damage in the districts of Nagapattinam, Thanjavur, Pudukottai and Tiruvarur in Tamil Nadu and Karaikal in neighbouring Puducherry. It caused minor damages in Sivaganga, Madurai, Dindigul, Karur and Theni of Tamil Nadu.

On Karnataka securing the Central nod for proceeding with the detailed project report for constructing the Mekedatu dam across river Cauvery which has evoked opposition in Tamil Nadu, Radhakrishnan said, “I am against the construction of the dam at Mekedatu. I am prepared to exert pressure on the Centre in this regard.”

However, he charged opposition parties in the state with using the issue to gain political mileage.