Jaya allots Rs 150 cr for immediate cyclone relief

Chennai, Dec 30: Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa today alloted Rs 150 crore for immediate relief measures and directed four Ministers to visit the districts which bore the brunt of cyclonic storm 'Thane'.

After chairing a meeting with senior department officials, Jayalalithaa said she had asked her cabinet colleagues B V Ramana, T K M Chinnaiah, K A Jeyapaul and M C Sampath to visit Kancheepuram, Villupuram, Nagapattinam and Cuddalore districts, the worst hit by the storm which crossed the state coast this morning.

She said the sum of Rs 150 crore would be used for immediate relief measures and for restoring basic infrastructure facilities. Besides, Jayalalithaa also directed the District Collectors, Deputy Collectors and department Secretaries to assess the extent of the damage caused by "Thane" and submit a report. She said hundreds of trees had been uprooted, hampering the flow of traffic.

Moreover, hundreds of electric posts have also fallen due to the cyclone, she said, directing officials to remove them by this evening. She said as a precautionery measure, around 6,000 people living in low lying areas were moved to safer places and power supply had been suspended in Cuddalore, Villupuram and Nagapattinam districts since last night.

Four teams from National Disaster Management were also sent to Cuddalore, Nagapattinam, Chennai and Tiruvallur districts, she said in a statement here.

PTI