Chennai: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit the cyclone Ockhi battered Kanyakumari and neighbouring Kerala on December 19 to console the families affected by the cyclone. He is likely to announce special package for the affected, especially the fishermen, say sources in the BJP here.
Mr Modi, whose visit will silence the opposition cannons that he had not visited the affected coastal villages, would initially visit the coastal places in Kerala and from there arrive by a special helicopter to the neighboring Kanyakumari in Tamil Nadu and proceed by road to visit the fishing villages, which have been the worst affected. Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharama who rushed to the Ockhi-hit districts along with a high level team of officials from the Indian Navy, IAF and Coast Guard took stock of the situation and assured all measures in rescuing the stranded fishermen.
Following a request from Union minister of state for finance and shipping Pon Radhakrishnan who hails from Kanyakumari district, the defence ministry, for the first time, dispatched ICG ship carrying a batch of Thoothur fishermen on a deep sea mission to trace and rescue the missing fishermen.
Taking into account the gravity of the situation, Governor Banwarilal Purohit on a two-day visit to the national capital on Dec. 11 and 12, has sought help from the Centre in various areas such as relief measures for Kanyakumari district hit by cyclone Ockhi and stepping up naval deployment to trace the missing fishermen, post of his visit to Kanyakumari district.
Fishers and local churches have been demanding that the Prime Minister visit the coastal areas as a large number of fishermen died in the cyclone that struck on Nov. 30. The newly elected Congress president Rahul Gandhi had on Dec. 14 visited the coastal belts in Kerala and Tamil Nadu, and consoled fishermen communities.
