Chennai: Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami on Friday informed that the relief package for fishermen who lost their boats due to cyclone Gaja will be increased from Rs 85,000 to Rs 1.50 lakh.
Responding to a special call attention motion moved by members of various Opposition parties on the cyclone relief works, the Chief Minister said following continuous requests from MLAs, ministers and fishermen, the compensation given for fully damaged FRB boats would be increased to Rs 1.5 lakh. 'Gaja' which caused extensive damage in 12 districts in November last year, had claimed 52 lives.
His government would construct two lakh houses for the Gaja-affected within four years.
Listing out the steps taken by the government before and after the cyclone crossed the coast on November 16, he said the state government had released an immediate assistance of Rs 1,000 crore for relief works. The coconut farmers would get Rs 2.64 lakh per hectare as compensation, Rs 13,500 per hectare would be provided for paddy, sugarcane, banana growers and other crops while Rs 18,000 per hectare would be given to pepper cultivators.
Families, who left the relief camp were given a special relief package of 27 items at a cost of Rs 233.59 crore to start their routine life. Stating that in no state such a package containing 27 items were given, the Chief Minister said so far 6,39,495 families have benefitted through this gesture. Also, 99 per cent electricity supply has been restored in the affected areas and the remaining one per cent would be completed soon.
Earlier, leader of the Opposition and DMK president M. K. Stalin urged the government to waive off the farm loans availed by farmers from PSUs and cooperative banks, the educational loans availed by the students, the loans availed by women self help groups (SHGs) and the loans availed by fishermen for their boats.
