CHENNAI/CUDDALORE: Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami praised the officials in Cuddalore district for their proactive measures to minimize the damage caused by cyclone Nivar.
Speaking to reporters after inspecting the regions affected by the cyclone here, on Thursday, he said, “As soon as we received information about the likelihood of the storm crossing Cuddalore district, we took steps to minimise damage.
All over the State, we had kept 4,239 relief camps ready, which can provide shelter to 13 lakh people. As many as 2.3 lakh people have now been housed in 2,999 such camps right now. A total of 52,226 people have been sheltered in 441 camps across Cuddalore district. A total of 77 electric posts have been damaged across the district and steps are being taken to restore them.”
‘Insurance claim for for crops will be cleared’
Palaniswam i was accompanied by minister MC Sampath, Chief Secretary K Shanmugam, district supervisory officer Gagandeep Singh Bedi and Collector Chandrasekhar Sakhamuri during his review of the extent of the damage to the banana crop at Keezhkumaramangalam near Reddichavadi. He also inspected Cuddalore harbour to assess damages.
“A total of 321 trees have been uprooted by the cyclone. All of them have been cleared. Nearly 1,613 hectares of paddy, 315 hectares of manila, eight hectares of tapioca and 35 hectares of banana plantations have been inundated across the district. Orders have been issued to assess crop damage across the State. We will take steps to get the insurance amount for all those who had insured crops.
Those who have not insured their crops will be compensated from the disaster relief fund,” said the Chief Minister. To another question from reporters, Palaniswami said steps will be taken to remove encroachments to help free flow of water. Later, he interacted with people housed at a relief camp at Devanampattinam government school and distributed assistance.
Although the district administration was quick in clearing the fallen trees off the roads and resuming other operations, it was found that outage prevailed more than 24 hours in many parts within Cuddalore municipality and other regions in the district.
“Power went off at 7 pm on Wednesday and did not return till Thursday night. When we called EB workers, they informed us that they could come only on Friday,” a resident of Semmandalam in Cuddalore. An EB employee said, “Many lamp posts have fallen. We are doing the minding work. However, it might take more time than expected.”