Cyclone Gaja: Puducherry govt seeks Rs 187-crore aid from Centre to rebuild Karaikal; work underway to restore electricity in region

Puducherry: The Puducherry government has prepared a report on the havoc wrought by cyclone Gaja on Karaikal and would send the report to the Centre on Wednesday with a request for Rs 187 crore as relief to rebuild the enclave. [caption id=“attachment_5356731” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. ANI[/caption] Announcing this to reporters in Puducherry on Tuesday, territorial Chief Minister V Narayanasamy said he would call on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Home Minister Rajnath Singh in New Delhi on 22 November to press for the relief assistance. Referring to the report, the chief minister said it contains details of the destruction of the Karaikal region and the damage caused to roads, electricity infrastructure, school and college buildings. “We are sending the report to the Home Ministry seeking Rs 187 crore as Central relief to manage the impact of the cyclone,” he said. As an immediate measure, the territorial government has decided to give Rs 2,000 from the State Disaster Relief Fund to each of the 9,500 families of farm workers who lost their huts in the cyclone, he said. Because of the timely steps that were taken to evacuate the people in vulnerable areas, there was no loss of human lives there, the chief minister said. The electricity department was working on restoring power supply without further delay, he said. Agriculture Minister R Kamalakannan, who got elected from Karaikal region, was camping there to coordinate relief work, Narayanasamy said.