Chennai: DMK working president M. K. Stalin on Wednesday asked the Tamil Nadu Government “not to hide” damages caused due to Cyclone Ockhi from the visiting Central team and exhorted it to restore normal life in Kanyakumari district as early as possible.
In a statement here on the eve of the Central team’s visit to Kanyakumari district, the leader of Opposition accused the AIADMK government of “hiding several facts” to the Central teams that visited the state to assess the drought situation last year and also not taking enough steps to locate missing fishermen who ventured into the sea.
“The state government should brief the Central team in detail about those fishermen who have gone missing and impress upon the Union government to sanction Rs 13,520 crore for restoration activities,” Stalin said.
He also asked Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami to identify the families of fishermen who are yet to return to the shore and sanction Rs 20 lakh for them as solatium and also depute two senior ministers to help the Central team understand the magnitude of the damages.
The state government should also ensure that the farmers who were affected due to the cyclone should be compensated enough and all efforts should be taken to restore traffic on all roads.
“The Central team should also exercise its responsibility by reporting the truth to the Centre and take steps to ensure that people in Kanyakumari district resume their normal life. This exercise should end up as a routine bureaucratic one,” he said.
