“I want to inform the House that today morning the Prime Minister met the Home Minister, Finance Minister and myself and discussed the flood conditions in Tamil Nadu”.
Advertisement
Thousands of stranded residents in Tamil Nadu are struggling to deal with the flooding as citizen volunteers bolster relief efforts across India’s fourth largest city, Chennai, a center of auto manufacturing and the IT sector.
The Tamil Nadu government has sought Rs.8,480.93 crore and Rs. 940 crore has been released.
The Prime Minister undertook the aerial survey of the flood affected areas of Chennai, Kanchipuram and Tiruvallur districts in Tamil Nadu.
More than 40,000 people have been rescued in recent days after record rains lashed the coastal state, worsening weeks of flooding that has killed 269 people. In some places, the water level is more.
The floods have cutoff at least 3 million people from basic services, with reports of food and water becoming scarce.
Railway stations have turned into impromptu shelters while hotels and rescue camps are bursting at their seams as people rendered homeless are looking for a roof over their heads in the inclement weather. Senior IAS officials have also been tasked to ensure that relief reaches the people in the worst-affected Chennai and other districts.
As the waters receded in some areas, people came out on the streets in large numbers to stock up on supplies, withdraw money from ATMs and fill up the tanks of their vehicles, leading to traffic jams.
Monsoon rains are a typical feature of the climate in this region but the city is particularly badly hit because its coastline faces the Bay of Bengal.
The meeting also made a decision to move two additional columns of the army in these areas even as officials of these central departments were asked to keep in constant touch with their Tamil Nadu counterparts, a Home Ministry spokesperson said after the CMG meeting. Chennai airport will continue to be shut till December 6.
C-130s of the Indian Air Force (IAF) have flown from the Hindon air base in Ghaziabd to Tirupati together with NDRF Personal and relief material.
The trains cancelled on Thursday include Chennai Central-CST Mumbai Express, Chennai Egmore-Dadar Express, Chennai Central-SVD Katra Express, Chennai Central- Vijayawada Jan Shatabdi Express, Chennai Central-Santragachi Express, Chennai Central- Howrah Coramandal Express, Chennai Central-Ahmedabad Navjeevan Express and Chennai Central-Tirupati Express.
Mukherjee called upon the state government and all other authorities to provide every assistance possible to the bereaved families as well as those affected.
This most recent rainfall has resulted in closure of Chennai’s airport along with widespread road closures and power outages according to the Associated Press.
Building work has also encroached onto river banks – making them more vulnerable when the rivers burst their banks.
There was sporadic rainfall on Thursday, after a 24-hour cloudburst dumped as much as 345 mm of rain on the city earlier this week.
Roads were water-logged in many areas of the city and had caved in in some localities. From today, Chennai bound flights will be landing at INS Rajali Airbase of Indian Navy at Arakonam which is about 60 kilometres from Chennai.
Advertisement
Here are the details of posting of NDRF and Army teams deployed for rescue operations.
