Former Tamil Nadu CM O Panneerselvam asks state government to speed up flood mitigation work

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Former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister O Panneerselvam on Friday urged the state government to speed up the flood mitigation work before the monsoon winds from the northeast immerse Chennai and its suburbs, PTI reported.

PMK founder Dr S Ramadoss also asked the current Tamil Nadu government to immediately finish the flood mitigation, he demanded compensation for the paddy crop of Rs 40,000 per acre that was destroyed in the torrential rain.

Panneerselvam said, "Chennai and suburbs could not withstand a day's heavy rain on October 15 when the northeast monsoon commenced. Several parts were inundated and rainwater entered houses. The flooding happened despite the state government claiming that only 30 per cent of the flood mitigation work remained to be completed," as cited by PTI.

Even though the Thiruppugazh Committee on Chennai flood disaster mitigation and management gave their final report in March 2023 to the current Chief Minister M K Stalin, the government is yet to complete the work inorder to prevent flooding, he claimed.

"The government's admission that still 30 per cent of the work remained to be completed only shows that it is not concerned about the people," Panneerselvam, who heads the AIADMK Workers' Rights Retrieval Committee, said in a statement, PTI cited.

He said Deputy CM Udhayanidhi Stalin's remark that "water has not stagnated in Greater Chennai Corporation areas" amounted to "hiding a pumpkin in a plate of rice."

Following the inspection of the work to bail out the water, Udhayanidhi responded to AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami's demand for a white paper saying that "the water has not stagnated in GCC areas. This is the white paper," as per PTI.

If there were rains on October 16 and 17 as predicted by the India Meteorological Department (IMD), the government's functioning would have been exposed, Panneerselvam said.

"There was no rainfall in Chennai (for the second day) as the low pressure moved towards Andhra Pradesh. It was due to the rain god Varuna's mercy that there was no rain the next day. Nevertheless, it is ridiculous to hide the fact that the rainwater stagnated," he said.

He asked the state government to complete 30 per cent of the flood mitigation soon, as the state would receive the monsoon from the northeast till the end of this year.

In another statement, PMK founder Ramadoss claimed that the MK Stalin-led government failed to carry out flood prevention works in Chennai, PTI reported.

He demanded a compensation of Rs 40,000 per acre be given to paddy growers as the crops were damaged due to rain.

(With inputs from PTI)