PM meets top ministers, discusses aid for rain-ravaged Tamil Nadu

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday met senior cabinet ministers, including Rajnath Singh, Arun Jaitley, Sushma Swaraj and Venkaiah Naidu and reportedly discussed emergency measures to be taken to assist the government in rain-ravaged Tamil Nadu, and especially help the people of Chennai, which has been the recipient of heavy rains over the last week.

Parliamentary Affairs Minister M. Venkaiah Naidu said the Government of India was willing to extend all support, saying "This is not just a Chennai problem; it is a problem of the entire country."

"The situation in Chennai is really very serious. It is becoming grim day by day with regard to flooding of the city. It's a very precarious situation, something unprecedented in 100 years," Naidu told the media here.

Naidu also said that the Government of India is in touch with the state administration and extending whatever support is required.

"NDRF teams have been sent, Army and Navy has been alerted whatever support they need that is being extended. The earlier SDRF amount sanctioned which wasn't released has been released, and also another 500 crores, total together around 930 crores have been released," he added.

Minister of State for Home Affairs Kiren Rijiju also pointed out that the Prime Minister Modi has assured that all necessary help would be extended to them.

"Our NDRF teams have initiated the process; we haven't seen this kind of heavy rains in Chennai in past," he said.

When asked as to how many teams would be sent to for the relief, Rijiju said "Since there is no flood-like situation in the other part of country, so if more number of NDRF teams are required, we would send them."

Meanwhile, Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi also affirmed the Centre's support to the flood-affected city.

"The Prime Minister himself has talked to the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu. The Central Government is with the people of Tamil Nadu in this difficult time and is providing every possible help," Naqvi told the media here.

The non-stop torrential rain, pouring since Monday evening as most areas in the city remained submerged - some under five feet of water.

The weather office said a slow-moving depression over southwest Bay of Bengal has triggered the fresh bout of heavy rain in Tamil Nadu, which is still smarting from a cyclonic storm that hit the state in November.