Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Friday blamed the DMK government in Tamil Nadu for its alleged inefficiency in its mitigation and relief efforts during the recent floods in Chennai and southern districts, while stressing that the Union government promptly offered every possible support in the rescue and relief efforts.
Addressing media in Delhi, she said Union Home Minister, on her request, had ensured that Indian armed forces began the relief efforts on December 18, soon after the extremely rainfall in southern districts of Tamil Nadu. She said the Interministerial Central Team (IMCT), which usually visits the places of such disasters after a slight delay for assessing the damages, visited the affected districts on December 20 itself.
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Denying the allegations that the India Meteorological Department (IMD) did not predict this extreme weather event, she said the Regional Meteorological Centre in Chennai, which was among the most advanced in the country with three Doppler Weather Radars, was regularly issuing forecasts about such rainfall in southern districts since December 12.
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Even if one agreed that such an extreme event was not predicted, she asked whether the Tamil Nadu government was adequately prepared for a heavy rainfall, but of a lesser magnitude. “Was anyone from the Tamil Nadu government present on the ground before the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) teams reached [the affected areas],” she questioned.
She alleged that State government, which expected the IMD to accurately predict the numbers when it came to rainfall, was giving contradicting numbers on the percentage of amount spent towards construction of stormwater drains in Chennai. She said the floods in Chennai earlier this month showed that the State government had not learnt any lessons from the floods in 2015, particularly in areas like the Ambattur Industrial Estate.
National disaster
On Tamil Nadu government’s demand to declare the recent floods in the State as a ‘national disaster,’ she said there were no provisions to declare natural disasters occuring in any place in the country as a ‘national disaster’. She later clarified on the social media platform X (formerly Twitter) that even the 2004 tsunami was not declared as a ‘national disaster’. She, however, said the State government can declare such events as a disaster as per guidelines framed by the Union Home Ministry.
She criticised the State government for distributing the compensation of ₹6,000 as cash to families affected in the floods instead of direct transfer through bank accounts. “I can only hope that the amount reaches the right people,” she said.
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On the funds sought by Chief Minister M.K. Stalin towards flood relief, she said it will be decided by the Union Home Ministry based on the recommendations by the IMCTs. While stating she did not want to comment on the quantum of funds sought by the CM, she, however, criticised him for allegedly prioritising the meeting of INDIA bloc instead of visiting the flood affected districts.
‘Prioritised INDIA bloc meet’
On the funds sought by Chief Minister M.K. Stalin for flood relief, Ms. Sitharaman said it would be decided by the Union Home Ministry based on the recommendations by the IMCTs.
While stating she did not want to comment on the amount sought by Mr. Stalin, she, however, criticised him for allegedly prioritising the INDIA bloc meeting instead of visiting the affected districts.
