Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 3rd December made an aerial survey of the flood affected areas in Tamil Nadu. After that, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalitha met him and sought that the flood destruction must be declared as national disaster.
She also requested him Rs 5,000 Crore immediate assistance to the state from the National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF). It is known that the disaster has caused widespread destruction and left around 270 people dead.
Responding to Jayalalitha’s request for release of Rs 5,000 crore, Modi announced the release of Rs 1,000 crore from the NDRF, to Tamil Nadu, for immediate relief to the victims. The PM has also accepted to Jayalalithaa’s plea of deploying 10 additional army columns and 20 teams of NRDF.
However, Jayalalitha was not happy with the assistance from Union government and referring to the Rs 940 crore released, she said that the released amount also includes Rs 133.79 Crore arrears from 2014-15 towards the State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF) and another Rs 254.62 crore towards the second installment of SDRF for this fiscal.
Jayalalitha told Modi that the released amount is intended for specific projects but not for flood relief.
