Yechury meets flood victims in Chennai, demands probe

Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader Sitaram Yechury on Sunday distributed relief material among flood victims here.

"I am here on purely on a humanitarian call. We are a party for whom humanism and helping people, who are victims of human suffering is an important element of our work. I am here to try and do whatever we can do for the people who have been the victims of the floods," Yechury told the media here.

"After coming to Chennai, I heard that there are various lapses because of which this sort of flooding was caused here," here.

Demanding an inquiry into the floods that left the coastal city paralysed, Yechury said that the people concerned responsible of the lapses must be booked and action must be taken against them.

"Parliament is in session, tomorrow when we return to Parliament on behalf of the CPI (M) we will take up the issue with the Central Government and with the concerned ministers," he added.

Meanwhile, the CP (M) leader also said that the priority in Chennai was to help people overcome human suffering.

"We have raised the issue in Parliament, but we will again raise it. Adequate central assistance must be provided, the priority here is not the politics, but the human suffering," he added.

Meanwhile, Union Minister for Parliamentary Affairs M. Venkaiah Naidu also visited Chennai and met the victims of the floods.

With water starting to recede from the coastal city, the opposition parties have started piling criticism on the Jayalalithaa government over its handling of the northeast monsoon. They have also demanded a probe into the issue of discharge of excess water from Chembarambakkam reservoir.