269 dead in Tamil Nadu, PM announces Rs.1000 Crore for relief

PM announces Rs.1000 Crore for relief

269 dead in Tamil Nadu, 54 in Andhra

New Delhi : The heaviest rains in Tamil Nadu in over a century and floods have left 269 people dead. 54 people died in Andhra Pradesh and two in Puducherry, even as prime Minister Narendra Modi announced an immediate release of Rs. 1000 Crore for relief works in Tamilnadu after aerial survey on Thursday, 3^rd December 2015.

Home Minister Rajnath Singh in Lokasabha described the situation as "alarming" in Tamilnadu as well as in neighbouring Andhra Pradesh and Puducherry.

After an aerial survey of the flood-hit areas, Prime Minister Narendra Modi today announced an immediate release of Rs.1,000 crore for relief and rehabilitation works in Tamil Nadu.

"A sum of Rs. 1,000 crore will be released immediately by the Government of India to carry out relief works. This will be in addition to Rs.940 crore which was released earlier (by the Centre)," he said in a brief statement at the naval base "INS Adyar" here.

Flanked by Governor K Rosaiah and Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa, Modi began his brief statement with a sentence in Tamil saying telling people of Tamil Nadu, "I will be in support of you".

Switching to English, Modi said he has seen the damage and misery caused by the monsoon fury.

RajanathSingh in Lokasabha said "there are no two opinions that the situation in Tamil Nadu is alarming. It is not an exaggeration to say that Chennai has turned into an island," Singh said.

He said all highways leading to Chennai were closed.

Chennai, he said, had received torrential rains, and the meteorological department had forecast more rains in the next two-three days.