DMK government should take responsibility for damages caused by flooding in Villupuram, says C.Ve. Shanmugam

AIADMK accuses DMK of incompetence in handling floods, demands equal relief assistance for affected districts in Tamil Nadu.

The AIADMK on Saturday accused the ruling DMK regime of being “administratively incompetent” to tackle the rain and said the government should own responsibility for the damages caused due to flooding in Villupuram, Cuddalore and Kallakurichi districts.

Leading a demonstration here demanding relief assistance for all those affected by the floods, AIADMK Rajya Sabha Member C.Ve. Shanmugam said the Tamil Nadu government had issued an advisory only to the Tahsildar of Thandrampet in Tiruvannamalai district before releasing nearly 3 lakh cusecs of water into the Thenpennai river.

Alleging disparity in distribution of relief assistance to the flood-affected people in the three districts, he said the government had distributed ₹2,000 as relief to ration cardholders while ₹6,000 was being given as relief to cardholders in Chennai during last year’s floods.

Mr. Shanmugam claimed that the relief assistance was not distributed to the affected sections in several villages so far. It was only after the AIADMK had announced a protest in Villupuram, the district administration had come out with a statement detailing the damages caused by the cyclone. The government should distribute the promised relief amount to all affected sections, he said.