Though the rain have stopped in Chennai and suburbs since Monday, educational institutions in the city would be reopened only after December 13, according to a release by the Tamil Nadu Government on Wednesday. The release confirmed that the North-East Monsoon fury claimed 347 lives in the State since October 1, 2015.
According to the Government’s own statistics, 17.64 lakh people have been rescued from floods and sheltered in 6,605 relief camps. Even as Chennai city is limping back to normalcy, telecommunication services are still broken in many places. Officials of BSNl — the main service provider — remained incommunicado and were not in a position to tell when the services would resume.
The 2015 floods could turn out to be a major event in the Chennai’s history as it affected all classes of people irrespective of caste, creed and religion. Even the affluent classes in the city and suburbs could not ensure security and safety from the nature’s fury. Pictures of AC Muthiah, one of the richest perosns in South India and chairman of the SPIC group being evacuated in a makeshift boat from Adyar Villa, his palatial mansion in the upmarket Kotturpuram area and movie moghul Priyadarshan standing in queue to buy a bottle of water are being widely circulated in the social media.
The only places in Chennai which were left untouched by the North-East Monsoon’s fury were Poes Garden and Gopalapuram. Wednesday morning saw the launching of a new series of political “discourse between the ruling AIADMK and the DMK over the reasons behind the recent floods. While scion of the DMK, MK Stalin alleged that the floods was a proof of the inefficiency of the AIADMK Government, Natham R Viswanathan, Minister for Power and a confidant of Chief Minister Jayalalithaa launched a diatribe against the DMK.
M Karunanidhi, the DMK chief is going around the city and consoling the flood-affected people. His entire clan, including daughter Kanimozhi and grand nephew Dayanidhi Maran, both accused in the 2G spectrum scam and the illegal telephone exchange case worth Rs 700 crore, were seen accompanying the grand old man of the DMK.