Power supply to be restored in cyclone-hit areas before Pongal

Puducherry, Jan 11: Power supply will be restored in all areas hit by cyclone Thane in union territory of Puducherry before harvest festival Pongal falling on January 15 as the AINRC Government announced cash relief totalling more than Rs 161.5 crore for the affected people.

Chief Minister N Rangasamy said all villages which were still suffering from power breakdown in the wake of the December cyclone would get supply before Pongal. The Electricity Department was putting in strenuous efforts to restore power supply, he told reporters here.

Announcing details about compensation for cyclone hit fishermen, farmers, hut dwellers and cattle owners after a joint meeting with his ministerial colleagues and officials, Rangasamy said Rs 85 crore would be disbursed to enable house and hut owners to rebuild their damaged dwelling units.

He said a sum of Rs 44 crore had been earmarked for the agriculture sector out of which farmers would get Rs 20,000 for a hectare of paddy lost in the cyclone while Rs 15,000 per hectare for loss of groundnut, tapioca, flowers and cashew.

Fisheries department has been allocated Rs 32 crore to provide compensation to fishermen who lost vessels, nets and other implements whie Animal Husbandry department would get Rs 60 lakh to cover livestock owners, he said adding distribution of compensation would commence in a day or two.

He thanked Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Union Home Minister P Chidambaram and UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi for finalising the interim relief of Rs 125 crores for the union territory for relief and rehabilitation measures.

Electricity Minister T.Thiagarajan told PTI that more than 1,000 concrete pillars were being procured from Tamil Nadu Electricity Board for restoration of power supply network, which suffered extensive damange in the cyclone with the uprooting of poles and transformers.

He said the Electricity department was putting in round the clock work to restore supply in villages where colossal loss of tranformers was posing a problem.

PTI