The Central team would be arriving on Friday evening and assess the damages caused by the cyclone in the 12 districts for three days, he told reporters
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami on Thursday sought an assistance of Rs 15,000 crore from the Centre towards relief and rehabilitation for the damages caused by cyclone Gaja in the state.
After his meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi, Palaniswami requested the Prime Minister to send a team of Central government functionaries to assess the damage from the cyclone that had hit the coast of Tamil Nadu and Puducherry last Friday killing 63 people and left thousands homeless with the wind speed of 120 kmph.
The Central team would be arriving on Friday evening and assess the damages caused by the cyclone in the 12 districts for three days, he told reporters.
According to the abstract of the memorandum submitted to PM Modi by the Chief Minister which was released here, Tamil Nadu has sought a total sum of Rs 14,910 crore towards permanent renovation activities in various areas, including the power sector which has been badly hit. Besides, he sought an immediate release of nearly Rs 1500 crore towards temporary renovation activities.
The memorandum said the state government required Rs 7,077 crore for permanent restoration work by the energy department, given the large-scale damage to power infrastructure. Reconstruction of huts and houses are estimated to cost Rs 6,000 crore, while Rs 625 crore has been estimated for agriculture and horticulture crops.
Rejecting the criticism of opposition parties, particularly DMK chief MK Stalin, on opting for a helicopter to visit the cyclone hit areas, Palaniswami said that he would not have seen the damages clearly if he had visited the affected areas by road. "The helicopter flew at lower heights to see the destruction and to take photographs," he said. Stalin had claimed that chief minister had opted for an aerial survey to avoid meeting the people affected by the natural calamity.
Several villages in Nagapattinam, Thanjavur, Pudukottai and Thiruvarur were up in arms against the government and continued to block roads protesting the slow pace of the relief works and non-availability of essential items like food and drinking water. A week after the cyclone made its landfall, most of the affected villages in these four districts continue to remain in dark with no power supply.
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 "Edappadi K Palaniswami")
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