Relief assistance of ₹2,000 announced by govt. to flood affected will not be sufficient even to clean houses: PMK president Anbumani Ramadoss

PMK president Anbumani Ramadoss on Sunday termed the State government’s distribution of ₹2,000 as relief assistance to ration cardholders as “atrocious”. He said the amount would not be sufficient even to clean the damaged houses. “Who will pay compensation for household appliances that were damaged in the floods?” he asked.

While the State provided relief assistance of ₹6,000 each to the flood-affected people in Chennai and Thoothukudi districts, the relief being provided to the affected in Cuddalore, Villupuram, Tiruvannamalai, Dharmapuri, Krishnagiri and Kallakurichi districts was very low, he added.

Speaking to reporters here after inaugurating a free medical camp organised by the party in Cuddalore, he said agricultural lands in Cuddalore were covered with thick layers of sand and other sediments in the wake of flooding. However, the government has not announced any compensation to farmers to reclaim the land, he said.

He reiterated his charge that the release of “1.70 lakh cusecs of water” from the Sathanur dam in Tiruvannamalai district into the Then Pennai river without “prior warning” had resulted in flooding in several districts causing damage to people’s livelihood and household appliances.

The State government should have issued a warning five hours prior to release of water from the Sathanur dam, according to him.

Normally, water released from the dam would take around one-and-a-half days to reach the Then Pennai river. However, the water reached within six to eight hours due to indiscriminate sand mining of the riverbed.

In the absence of warning, the floods had inundated several houses and damaged appliances. “This deserves to be condemned in the strongest terms and government should own responsibility for the damage,” he said.

Mr. Anbumani also called for modification of the rules relating to opening of dams. The present system that the Chief Minister should give the nod to release water from dams introduced during the British time should be modified. As it is more of a technical issue, the powers to release water should be vested with the concerned officers who could take pertinent decisions, he said.