TN: D Jayakumar rejects CAG report on December 2015 Chennai floods

Chennai, July 10: Tamil Nadu Fisheries Minister D Jayakumar on Tuesday rejected CAG report that stated that the December 2015 floods in Chennai were a man-made disaster. He said that the state government would reply to the report. The audit agency held the government responsible for the scale of the disaster.

Earlier, the Comptroller and Auditor General of India said that the massive floods that swept Chennai, Kanchipuram and other districts in December 2015 were due to the failure of various state government agencies to heed the recommendations of expert committees on flood mitigation, check dam building and other measures.

The report said indiscriminate discharge of water from the Chembarambakkam reservoir had burdened the Adyar river and caused the flooding in the city and its suburbs.

The report categorically states the "injudicious decision to indiscriminately increase the discharge of water from 12000 cusec to 29000 cusec" has proved that the disaster was indeed a "man-made" catastrophe.

The audit agency also pointed out that the Tamil Nadu State Disaster Management Authority did not meet even once since it was formed in November 2013.

The floods, which occurred in December 2015, claimed 289 lives, flooded 23.25 lakh homes, disrupted power and telecommunication services, caused extensive damage to public and private property and brought the city to a standstill for several days.