Chennai: The Union government has deputed a Central team to Tamilnadu to assess the damages caused by the last week’s heavy rains and floods and make recommendation on the quantum of assistance to the State.
The inter-Ministerial Central team will ascertain tomorrow and the day after whether floods in the State can be considered to be of a ‘severe nature’ and make recommendations for additional Central assistance to the State.
The team is likely to meet Chief Minister M K Stalin at the Secretariat. The team will be led by Rajiv Sharma, Joint Secretary, NATGRID, Ministry of Home Affairs, and consists of representatives from the Ministries or
Departments of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Finance (Department of Expenditure), Jal Shakti, Power, Roads, Transport and Highways and Rural Development.
‘In view of the urgency of the matter, the Central team may visit the State immediately. Thereafter, upon its return from the visit, and after making the final assessment, it can submit 15 copies of its report, in a week, to
the Disaster Management Division, Union Ministry of Home Affairs,’ official sources said.
The departments have been directed to nominate an officer each, familiar with the ongoing schemes and programmes in their respective sectors, to assist the team leader.
It may be recalled that Stalin recently allocated Rs 300 crore for restoring roads, drains, and other infrastructure that got damaged in the state due to the incessant rain for the past two weeks.
For farmers in the Cauvery Delta region, which got hit due to the flooding, Stalin issued orders to provide Rs 20,000 per hectare for fully damaged crops that were cultivated during Kuruvai, Kar, and Sornavari seasons and were ready for harvesting.
The announcement came in the wake of a Ministerial team led by Cooperative Minister I Periasamy that visited delta districts and submitted a report to him in the Secretariat on Tuesday.
Agricultural input subsidy of 6,038 has been ordered for every hectare of submerged samba crop and to help the farmers take up cultivation again. Farmers will get 45 kg of short term paddy seeds at 1,485, 25 kgs of micronutrients to control plant diseases at 1,235, 60 kg of urea at 354 and 125 kgs of Di-ammonium Phosphate at 2,964, said an official release.
