Palaniswami claims flood-hit people being evicted from camps

AIADMK leaders criticize DMK government's flood relief efforts, demand increased assistance for affected people in Tamil Nadu.

The AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K. Palaniswami on Wednesday claimed that flood-hit people were being evicted from marriage halls that served as make-shift camps, citing wedding reasons.

In a post on his social media handle, Mr. Palaniswami said the DMK regime was responsible for rendering the people helpless. As a result they had to resort to demonstrations to demand water and food.  He called upon the government to do everything possible for the return of normality. 

Separately, the ADMK Workers’ Rights Retrieval Committee coordinator, O. Panneerselvam, in a statement, recalled that Chief Minister M.K. Stalin, while in the Opposition, had demanded the payment of solatium of  ₹25 lakh to the kith and kin of every person who died in floods  and  compensation of  ₹30,000 per acre to farmers. The latest announcement by the Chief Minister regarding the relief assistance to the affected people in Villupuram, Kallakurichi, and Cuddalore districts was not as per the expectations of the people. Referring to the cash support of  ₹2,000 each to the people, Mr Panneerselvam pointed out that even in 2011, when cyclone Thane had struck the State, the amount of cash support was  ₹1,000 each.

Mr Panneerselvam called upon the Chief Minister to increase the quantum of all the assistance announced by four times. 

Meanwhiile, in a post on his social media handle, the Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam general secretary, T.T.V. Dhinakaran, wondered whether it was a mark of achievement of the ‘Dravidian model’ government that a high level bridge, built at a cost of around ₹16 crore, was washed away in Tiruvannamalai district within 90 days of its inauguration. He sought action against those responsible for the bridge collapse and wanted the government to ensure the construction of enduring bridges in future.