Chennai gets Rs 1,000 crore for flood mitigation – Times of India

CHENNAI: Chief minister M K Stalin on Friday announced that Rs 1,000 crore would initially be allotted to government departments, including municipal administration, water resources and highways, to take up schemes to mitigate floods in Chennai and suburbs.
This is based on the recommendations of the flood mitigation panel headed by retired bureaucrat V Thirupugazh.
Replying to the debate on motion of thanks to the governor’s address in the assembly, the CM said the city witnessed heavy rainfall like nothing witnessed in the last five decades, leaving the drinking water reservoirs brimming. “We prevented the impact on people by regularizing release of water from the reservoirs; properties were safeguarded; and lives were saved. The government works hard to ensure that people are not put in misery when the next monsoon season arrives,” Stalin said. The state government released Rs 801 crore from the SDRF to take up relief and restoration work in the wake of the heavy rainfall in recent months.
Stating that the AIADMK leaders did not have locus standi to talk about floods in Chennai, Stalin recalled the disastrous floods of December 2015 and the damage they caused.
Taking a dig at opposition leader, Edappadi K Palaniswami for alleging deterioration of law and order in the state, Stalin said the rule of law prevailed in Tamil Nadu. “Even if someone from the DMK makes a mistake, even if he commits a petty crime, I swear by Anna, I swear by the Kalaignar (Karunanidhi), this Stalin will take appropriate action. There is no change in that,” he said, amid loud thumping of desks.
The sale of drugs near educational institutions had been stopped and the government would make it more criminal by amending the law. “Crimes against women are being handled with an iron hand. Intensive measures have been taken against rowdies and mercenaries,” the CM said.
He said Amma canteens would continue to exist, even as the previous AIADMK regime had discontinued programmes launched by M Karunanidhi and those named after him. “Tamil Nadu Dr J Jayalalithaa Fisheries University remains, so does Tamil Nadu Dr J Jayalalithaa Music and Fine Arts University and a statue of the former chief minister in the state council for higher education. Her memorial is under the maintenance of state PWD. You launched the Amma clinic, but there was no clinic. How can the government shut down a non-existent clinic?” Stalin said.