PM Narendra Modi announced Rs 1,000 crore relief to Tamil Nadu to tackle the flood situation in Chennai.
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Deputy Speaker M. Thambidurai, an MP from the AIADMK, said the central government should accept all the demands of the Tamil Nadu chief minister relating to the flood situation.
Modi said: “I have directed that Rs. 1000 crore be released immediately by the Govt of India to Tamil Nadu for immediate relief”.
While intermittent rains have been forecast for Chennai, coastal and interior Tamil Nadu will receive more rains in the next 24 hours.
PM made the announcement after an aerial survey of flood-affected areas of Chennai, Kanchipuram and Tiruvallur districts.
Asserting that the situation in Tamil Nadu post the incessant rains is alarming, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) MP Kanimozhi on Thursday said that it would not be appropriate to find faults with the steps initiated by the Jayalalithaa-led AIADMK Government at this point of time.
Separately, news reports said that flood waters released from a lake on the outskirts of Chennai inundated more neighborhoods in the city.
The death toll in the rains that have lashed Chennai city and other parts of state has gone up to 197, officials said.
One helicopter is positioned in Tirupati to aid the Andhra Pradesh Government.
He said the latest spell of heavy rains, over the past three days, had turned Chennai into an “island”, cut off from the rest of the state and country, with road, rail and air links affected.
“Our flight back home was supposed to have been today, and with the airport closed until Dec 6, we are trying to secure boat service to take us to higher ground so that we can find our way back home, either via the Tiruchi Airport or Bengaluru International Airport in Karnataka”, said Kamalakannan.
Many trains have been cancelled or diverted.
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Teams of NDRF and army personnel and police and fire service men swung into action to rescue people from their flood homes in Kotturpuram, Nandanam, Jafferkhanpet, Saidapet and the suburbans areas of Velacheri, Madipakkam, Tambaram and Mudichur localities where waters had reached upto first floor.
