CM reviews prepardness ahead of North East Monsoon

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister K Palaniswami on Monday reviewed the state government's preparedness ahead of the northeast monsoon 2019, expected to set in over the state next month.

Palaniswami chaired a meeting with his senior cabinet colleagues, including deputy Chief Minister O Panneerselvam, and officials like Chief Secretary K Shanmugam.

He issued a number of instructions to the officials like having adequate equipment to remove uprooted trees and teams reaching affected areas in quick time.

He directed storing sufficient stocks of medicines in government and private hospitals, besides holding required quantities of essential commodities in fair price shops, an official release here said.

Further, Palaniswami announced allocating Rs 38.52 crore towards procuring various equipment for the Chennai Corporation and navigation gadgets for the Fisheries Department, the release said.

As part of the monsoon preparedness, around 4,400 vulnerable areas have been identified in the state and various teams including first responders have been formed, it said.

Adequate number of educational institutions and community centres are on standby, keeping in mind the monsoon while required equipment to clear uprooted trees, gensets and pumps to drain water were also available, it said.

Further, during the ongoing southwest monsoon, 14 of the 32 districts in the state received excess rainfall while 13 recorded normal rainfall, it said.

As many as five districts received deficit rainfall, it added.

Tamil Nadu receives the bulk of its rainfall during the northeast monsoon, which spans from October to December.