Encroachments along the Adyar, Cooum, Buckingham Canal and many other rivers in Andhra Pradesh caused the recent floods which ravaged both the States, according to M Venkaiah Naidu, Union Minister for Urban Affairs. Speaking to reporters after his meting with Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa at Chennai on Sunday, the Union Minister pointed out that encroachments along the embankments have caused hardship to the people. “Encroachments have taken place all over the rivers, lakes, reservoirs which has led to the shrinking of these water bodies. These encroachments have to be removed on a war footing,” said Naidu.
Earlier, the Union Minister drove down to the Secretariat and called on the Chief Minister. In the thirty minutes long meeting, Jayalalithaa requested Naidu to release Rs5000 crore from the Urban Development Ministry to build 50,000 houses for those who lost their houses in the flood.
The Chief Minister also asked the Union Minister for a package of Rs4500 crore to rebuild the infrastructutre destroyed by the floods. Naidu told reporters that he has assured the Chief Minister of all possible help from the Centre.
The Minister pointed out that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has declared the Chennai floods as a rare calamity of severe nature in response to Jayalalithaa’s plea to declare it as a national calamity. “this has been done so that all members of parliament could divert Rs1 crore from their MPlAD’s fund to Tamil Nadu. Naidu said since Modi assumed office in 2014, compensation to victims of natural disasters have been increased two-fold.
Educational institutions in Chennai and four other northern districts in Tamil Nadu which have been shut down since November 8 due to floods will be reopened on Monday, according to State Government officials. D Sabitha, principal secretary to the department of school education told reporters on Sunday that all students who lost their books, dress and other study materials in the floods would be given text and note books, study materials and a pair of uniform.
Since most of the school premises were being used as relief camps for those who lost their houses, all school buildings have been sanitised since Saturday, said Sabitha. The Minister for School Education K C Veeramani himself was seen supervising the cleaning processes underway in Chennai and other districts.
The teachers and parents in Tamil Nadu are a worried lot because of the number of academic days lost since the first week of November. Since the last one month was a total wash out, a major portion of the syllabus remain uncovered causing anxiety to parents and teachers.
Even as the State Government has deployed 30,000 sanitation workers in Chennai to clean the city of garbage caused by the flood, DMDK leader Vijayakanth made an appearance at T Nagar and posed for pictures and video recording along with other leaders of the party. Vijayakanth, clad in white veshti and shirt had with face mask and gloves was seen lifting some garbage and putting it into a basket. The movie actor-turned-politician blamed the AIADMK Government for not cleaning the city properly and made a quick exit to repeat the same at another point.