CM Stalin’s Call to Save People From Rain Havoc
Stalin urged the 12 monitoring officers appointed by the government to rush to the districts to carry out precautionary and relief work
Chennai: Chief Minister M K Stalin made a clarion call to all people’s representatives and the entire state official machinery on Tuesday to raise to the occasion and save the people from the havoc wreaked by the North East Monsoon, whose onset was marked by the flooding of roads and low-lying areas and the disruption of normal life, particularly of those travelling by road to Chennai back from their native places in the districts after a long holiday weekend.
In his message on X, Stalin said that he spoke to the collectors of Chennai, Thiruvallur, Kanchipuram, Chengalpattu and the various delta districts through video conference and reviewed the precautionary measures taken by them and urged them to respond to people’s complaints and grievances expeditiously.
He said he also wanted the paddy procurement that was going to be continued without any break and hence enquired with the officials the progress of the operation. On the rain-related damages, he wanted measures to be taken quickly to mitigate the suffering of the people even as the Indian Meteorological Department forecast heavy rains.
In the meeting, Stalin urged the 12 monitoring officers appointed by the government to rush to the districts to carry out precautionary and relief work particularly in the delta districts of Mayiladuthurai, Nagapattinam, Thirvarur and Thanjavur. For the 15 zones in Chennai, the IAS officers who have been appointed to oversee the precautionary and relief operations were urged to expeditiously start their work.
The Chief Minister, in a bid to make the DMK functionaries plunge into precautionary and mitigation work without delay had invited all senior party honchos like district secretaries, Members of Parliament, MLAs, Mayors, Deputy Mayors and councilors in all local bodies, party’s regional and zonal office bearers to a consultative meeting at Anna Arivalayam at 10 am on Wednesday.
State Electricity Minister S S Sivasankar, along with Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation (TANGEDCO) managing director J Radhakrishnan, held a review meeting to take stock of the essential goods that might be needed when the rains turn unruly.
They found that the department had a stock of 11,435 transformers, 3,30,636 electricity poles, 8551 km long electricity wires, 1471 km of underground cables and other necessary electrical appliances were in the godowns ready for dispatch to meet emergencies.
Electricity consumers were asked to call the 24-hour helpline 9498794987 for emergencies and given a set of long standard instructions to play safe during the rains. They were told to keep off snapped power wires, electricity cables, transformers, electric posts, pillars and junction boxes. Also the public were asked to walk through stagnant water near transformers and electrical installations.
Sivasankar and Radhakrishan held the review meeting at Minaham, the electricity consumers service centre in Chennai, and instructed the officials manning the helpline to ensure that the waiting period for attending calls was reduced to 10 seconds from the present 20 seconds.
State Minister for HR & CE P K Sekar Babu and Mayor Priya inspected the K M Garden pumping station and the Thattankulam pumping station to ensure that they worked without any hitch and thus averted any flooding in the city.
