Govt. to distribute ₹5,000 as rain relief to ration card holders

Puducherry government provides financial assistance to rain-affected residents, farmers, and fishermen, totaling ₹210 crore.

The government has decided to provide ₹5,000 to the 3.54 ration card holders of the Union Territory as rain relief, Chief Minister N. Rangasamy said on Monday.

Addressing a press conference at his chamber to brief the impact of Cyclone Fengal in Puducherry, the Chief Minister said the government would disburse the financial assistance to all ration card holders with immediate effect. The government has also decided to provide ₹30,000 per hectare for farmers as compensation for damaged crops, he added.

Four milch cows and 16 calves were killed in the rain. The dairy farmers would get a compensation of ₹40,000 per milch cow and ₹20,000 per calf. About 50 fishermen, whose boats and engines were damaged, would get ₹10,000 per boat as assistance, he said.

The government would also provide a compensation of ₹5 lakh each to the family of four persons killed in the rain. It would incur an expenditure of ₹210 crore towards providing the entire financial assistance, the Chief Minister said. Chief Secretary Sharat Chauhan, who was also present at the press conference, said there would not be any difficulty in sourcing the fund to meet the total expenditure requirement.

Mr. Rangasamy said the region had received a record rainfall of 48.9 cm, under the cyclone’s influence. The amount of rain received was unprecedented in the history of Puducherry, he said, adding that the immediate relief assistance provided by various wings of the administration, the Army, and National Disaster Response Force saved many lives.

About 550 people are still in relief camps and are being taken care of by the District Administration, which has distributed food packets to about 85,000 people, he added.

The Chief Minister said that power supply had been restored in most of the areas and, by Monday late evening, electricity would be restored completely. The Chief Secretary would write to the Union Ministry of Home Affairs apprising the Central government about the situation. The government would seek financial assistance after consolidating the compensation requirements, he said.