Union Minister for Finance and Corporate Affairs Smt Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday reviewed the flood situation in Thoothukudi district in Tamil Nadu. She also reviewed the rescue steps taken by various agencies in this regard.

Shri L Murugan, Hon’ble Minister of State for Fisheries, Animal Husbandry & Dairying and Information & Broadcasting, Hon’ble MP (LS) Smt Kanimozhi Karunanidhi, Tamil Nadu Finance Minister Shri Thangam Thenarasu, former Union Minister Shri Pon Radhakrishnan, MLA Shri Nainar Nagendran, P. Sasikala, former MP and senior officials of the state government, including Shri SK Prabhakar, Commissioner Revenue Administration, were present during the course of the meeting.

The meeting, chaired by Smt Nirmala Sitharaman, was attended by officials of various departments of the district administration, which included Local Bodies (Rural Development & Panchayat Raj and Municipal Administration), Agriculture and Farmers Welfare department, etc.

The meeting was also attended by District Collectors of Thootukudi and Tirunelveli, Managing Directors of Indian Overseas Bank & Indian Bank, CMDs of four Public Sector General Insurance Companies and the CMD of Agriculture Insurance Company of India Ltd.

During the meeting, Smt Sitharaman noted that all officials and agencies should work together and have a plan in place if such events occur in future.

The FM also emphasised the need to establish a robust early warning mechanism in the event of potential breaches or overflows of water bodies. She highlighted that this system could be important in detecting and alerting relevant authorities and communities, thereby minimising the risk of damage to property and loss of life in such situations. She also asked the administration to strengthen the embankments.

Once the authorities of the state government take steps as per the RBI’s guidelines in declaring a natural calamity, the banks were directed to follow the RBI’s guidelines and take initiatives through the SLBC process to provide relief to the borrowers.

The Hon’ble Finance Minister also instructed the insurance company and district administration to complete the crop-cutting exercise at the earliest to settle the claims of the farmers out of the eligible 2.5 lakh farmers covered under Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) in Thoothukudi. The total area covered under PMFBY in Thoothukudi district is 1.38 lakh hectares.

The insurance companies were instructed by Smt Sitharaman to organise a series of camps in the coming days for the flood-affected areas for fast settlement of various insurance claims in coordination with the district administration. 

The CMDs of the insurance companies assured the Hon’ble Finance Minister that they would take all necessary measures to expedite the settlement of claims pertaining to the flood.

Later in the day, Smt Sitharaman visited the flood-affected areas of Thoothukudi district and interacted with the residents in Korampallam & Maravanmadam in Thoothukudi Taluk, Murapanadu Kovilpathu, Srivaikuntam Taluk and Manathi & Therku Valavallan in Eral Taluk, covering a total distance of about 120 kms – and instructed the officials to provide assistance to all those affected at the earliest.

During her visit, the Hon’ble Finance Minister inspected the damage-hit areas in various taluks and villages of the district. She also interacted with the people and assured them of all possible assistance from the government.

Several women, many of whom lived in the shelter, had lost their homes during the floods and sought assistance from the Hon’ble Finance Minister.  The district administration was directed to use the PM Awas Yojana funds to rebuild the houses of eligible women and devise ways in which houses could be rebuilt for those people not covered under PMAY.

People in Srivaikuntam apprised Smt Sitharaman that horticulture has taken a major hit in the area, with many hectares of agricultural land being covered with river sand, making it unfit for cultivation. She directed the district officials to take necessary steps to provide relief to the horticultural farmers.

During her travel through the district, many women entrepreneurs apprised her about loss of inventory and products made by them recently for Pongal and upcoming festivities.  In this regard, the Finance Minister directed the officials to support and provide necessary relief to the women-run local businesses, engaged in making clay utensils, other pottery products and rangoli colors, etc who had lost their inventory due to floods.  

 

 

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