Chennai: An inter-ministerial team from the Union government will travel to Tamil Nadu on December 26 to assess the damages caused due to cyclone Ockhi that left a trail of devastation in Kanyakumari district, fisheries minister D. Jayakumar said on Friday in New Delhi. Jayakumar made the announcement to the media after a meeting with Union Home minister Rajnath Singh during which he reiterated the Tamil Nadu government's demand for declaring cyclone Ockhi as “national disaster.”
“The home minister has told us that a Central team would visit Kanyakumari district of Tamil Nadu on December 26 for assessing the damages. The team would submit a report based on the assessment to the Centre. We are expecting favourable response from the Centre,” Jayakumar told reporters in New Delhi. The team will conduct detail assessment of the affected areas, visit the worst-hit areas and hold interaction with affected people.
Jayakumar along with revenue minister R. B. Uthayakumar also demanded that the Centre immediately sanction Rs 876 crore for temporary restoration of infrastructure and Rs 8,246 crore for permanent mitigation measures in Kanyakumari district. The minister said he reminded Singh of the memorandum that Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami submitted to Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his visit to Kanyakumari on Tuesday last to review relief measures in the cyclone-ravaged district.
“We have reiterated our demand for declaring cyclone Ockhi as national disaster. Even other states hit by the cyclone like Kerala and Lakshadweep have made the same demand. We hope the Centre would heed to the request,” Jayakumar said. He also said the Tamil Nadu government has demanded setting up of a permanent naval station at Kanyakumari to ensure launching of immediate rescue and search operations in case fishermen go missing during such natural disasters. Several fishermen from the Kanyakumari district who ventured into the sea have not yet returned to the shore.
