Defence Minister to visit TN today, to conduct aerial survey of flood-hit areas

Parts of Chennai and its suburbs suffer from inundation, relief work expedited 

PTI, New Delhi, Dec 6, 2023 : Defence Minister Rajnath Singh will visit Tamil Nadu on Thursday to assess the flood situation in the state and hold a meeting with Chief Minister M K Stalin, sources said. Singh, who will travel to Tamil Nadu as a representative of the central government, will conduct an aerial survey of the flood-hit areas. 

The defence minister will visit Tamil Nadu to see the damage caused by the recent floods besides holding a meeting with the chief minister, the sources said. Officials from the Union Home Ministry will accompany the defence minister during his trip. 

Residents of Chennai grappled with stagnant water and power disruption in several areas and its suburbs on Wednesday, two days after Cyclone Michaung wreaked havoc in the metropolis and neighbouring districts, even as civic agency personnel were involved in relief and rehabilitation efforts. 

The state government said power was kept suspended in some areas as a "preventive measure" as the cables were under water, while asserting all efforts were being taken to restore normalcy. Another day's holiday was declared for schools and colleges in Chennai on December 7. 

The cyclone-triggered heavy rainfall had led to inundation in localities including Velachery and Tambaram. 

On Wednesday too, people were seen leaving their homes in the areas surrounded with water to safer zones, carrying their children and wading through the stagnant water. They called for help, including pressing more boats to ferry people to higher ground. 

Chief Minister M K Stalin visited some of the affected areas and distributed food and essential commodities to people put up at a relief centre in the city. He inspected activities undertaken by the city civic body to drain water. 

Stalin also wrote to the Centre seeking an interim flood relief of Rs 5,060 crore to tide over the situation. 

Many users on social media site 'X' shared videos of residential localities still being surrounded by stagnant water, claiming many residents were stuck inside. The hashtag #Velachery was trending on the microblogging site. 

Power supply had not resumed in parts of the city including Kilpauk and Kattupakkam. The state government said relief activities were on in full swing and that people in many of the affected areas were being rescued through inflatable boats even during the midnight. 

Senior officials of the Greater Chennai Corporation were overseeing the rescue and relief activities, the civic agency said. 

The Greater Chennai Police also announced helpline numbers for citizens to contact them for rescue and relief activities. An update from the city police on Wednesday said six rain-related deaths were reported while many persons in need were rescued by police personnel in different parts of the city. 

Among the rescued were aged persons and a number of pregnant women, and a woman and her newborn, an official release said. 

Further, 11 subways in the metro remained closed for vehicular movement due to water-logging. 

There were no disruptions in operations at the airport while the Southern Railway announced cancelling a number of services and diversion of many others. 

However, it announced resumption of the suburban services on the Chennai Egmore- Chengalpet and Chennai Beach-Arakkonam routes with frequency of 30 and 45 minutes, respectively. Services on the Tiruvottiyur-Sullurpeta line will be operated in a hourly frequency, it said in an update. 

State chief secretary Shiv Das Meena told reporters that water was draining in many parts of the city. Where water has cleared, cleaning of roads was being done, while supply of drinking water was also being ensured. 

A number of personnel, including those from NDRF and SDRF were involved in relief and rehabilitation activities, he told reporters here. 

"Food packets, bread and milk are being supplied in waterlogged areas while boats have been deputed to severely affected areas in Perumbakkam and Varadarajapuram, with senior officials monitoring the efforts," he said. 

Over 200 boats have been pressed into service in different areas. On power supply yet to be restored in some areas, the official said it was done as a "preventive step" to avert any untoward incident as the government wants nobody to get hurt. 

"We are ready to provide power but there should be no loss of life, nobody should be affected, there should be no accident. 

Wherever the power cables are under water, as a preventive stop, there is delay in (resuming) power supply," he said. 

Only 95 of the 1,812 feeders in the city are yet to be switched on. The situation will be better as water recedes, the top official added. Later, addressing a press conference, he said around 41,400 persons have been accommodated in 372 relief centres in different districts and that they were being provided with food. 

In the four worst districts of Chennai, Tiruvallur, Kancheepuram and Chengalpet, there were a little over 800 locations with inundation and about 19,000 persons have been evacuated from there and moved to relief camps. 

Food packets were also being air-dropped in certain areas in north and south Chennai, he added. While the usual daily supply of milk to Chennai and its surrounding areas was 19 lakh litres, a supply of 14 lakh litres was ensured on Wednesday. 

Of this, state-run Aaavin contributed 10 lakh litres. The usual quantum of supply was will be restored from Thursday onwards, Meena said. Over 6,600 kg of milk powder sourced from other districts was also being supplied, he added. 

Meanwhile, Minister for Milk and Dairy Development, Mano Thangaraj warned of strong action against those selling milk over and above the retail price.