TN Govt allocates Rs 500 crore for cyclone relief work

A day after he sought Rs 1,000 crore from the Centre for rehabilitation efforts, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister O Panneerselvam today allocated Rs 500 crore for relief and infrastructure works in regions ravaged by Cyclone Vardah.
Of the Rs 500 crore, Rs 350 crore would be allocated to Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation (TANGEDCO), Rs 75 crore to Chennai Corporation, Rs 25 crore to Highways department while Kancheepuram and Thiruvallur district administration would each get Rs 10 crore to take up relief works, Panneerselvam said in an official release here.
As cyclone Vardah made its landfall on Monday, Chennai, Kancheepuram and Tiruvallur districts were the worst hit as several trees were uprooted and electricity supply disrupted, he said.

Various government departments have taken up restoration works on war footing, Panneerselvam said.
Earler, he chaired a review meeting at the Secretariat in which senior Ministers, Chief Secretary, Advisor to Government, DGP and Department Secretaries, participated.
"Based on discussions at the meeting, I have issued orders to allocate Rs 500 crore to provide relief assistance to people and to take up infrastructure works in the affected areas," he said.

Among others, he said Rs 10 crore would be given as financial assistance to fishermen community, Rs seven crore to public work department, Rs three crore to health department, Rs 50 lakh to repair dairy farms that were affected and Rs five crore to police department to restore traffic signals.

The government allocated Rs two crore to the transport department to renovate damaged buses and bus terminuses.
As several trees at the famous Anna Zoological Park also were uprooted, the government allocated Rs 2.50 crore to the Forest department to take up restoration works at Zoo and those parks that were affected.
"I have issued orders to all departments to work cohesively and complete the task soon," he said.
Yesterday, in a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Panneerselvam sought Rs 1,000 crore as immediate assistance from the National Disaster Response Fund to take up relief and rehabilitation works. He also requested Modi to depute a team to study the damage caused by Vardah.

Earlier, Panneerselvam inspected several affected areas including Aringnar Anna Zoological park at Vandalur in Kancheepuram district. He also disbursed Rs 13.94 lakh as financial assistance to 43 people at Mammallapuram Town Panchayat, a release said.