CHENNAI: Amid boycott by the Opposition parties led by the DMK, Governor Banwarilal Purohit on Monday in his maiden address to the state Assembly, urged the Centre to release Rs 5,255 crore for temporary and permanent restoration works in cyclone Ockhi affected areas and said the state would continue the rescue operations till the last fisherman was rescued.
Lauding the strenuous efforts made by the government in coordination with the Centre to save the lives of fishermen, who were stranded in the mid-sea during the cyclone, the Governor said, the timely and co-ordinated action of the Navy, Coast Guard and Air Force with the state government made the rescue operations effective. He thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi for visiting Kanyakumari district to reiterate the support and commitment of the Union government to the rescue and rehabilitation of the victims of the cyclone and for an on account release of '133 crore from the National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF).
He urged the Centre to expedite the submission of the report by the Central team, which has recently completed its field visits for assessing the damages and sanction the due release of '401 crore for temporary restoration and '4,854 crore for permanent restoration towards damages caused by ‘Ockhi’ cyclone.
The Governor said the state government compassionately provided financial assistance to the bereaved families, besides sanctioning input subsidy to the farmers whose crops were damaged, in addition to the support for the re-plantation of rubber and banana.
Mr Purohit said the state government was committed to continuing the rescue operations till the last fisherman was rescued.
Immediately after he arrived at the House, Mr Purohit greeted all members with a vanakkam before commencing his address.
Just as he was about to begin his speech, leader of the Opposition M. K. Stalin stood up to raise an issue.
The Governor paused for a moment and told Stalin “please utkkarunga” (take your seat) in Tamil but to no avail. Mr Stalin and his party MLAs raised slogans demanding that he be allowed to speak.
A while later, the DMK working president led his party members and trouped out of the House accompanied by the Congress members and the lone IUML legislator.
Amid noisy scenes, sidelined AIADMK leader TTV Dhinakaran, who made his debut in the Assembly after winning the December 21 RK Nagar bypoll, remained calmly seated. Purohit later resumed his speech.
