Chief Minister V. Narayanasamy has urged the Centre to declare Kerala floods as a national disaster. He said the unprecedented calamity had wreaked havoc on the State.
Mr. Narayanasamy told presspersons here on Sunday that the Puducherry government had committed to contribute ₹1 crore for flood relief to Kerala.
The Chief Minister said he had requested all MLAs and two MPs in the Union Territory to contribute their one-month salary towards Kerala flood relief work.
The Puducherry Government would open a collection point on the premises of the Collectorate here to receive contributions and other relief material including clothes, water bottles, medicines and packaged food packets from the public. The traders association in Puducherry has donated ₹1 lakh towards the relief fund for Kerala.
Mr. Narayanasamy said the situation in Kerala was so grim that all must rise to the occasion and help the State overcome the impact of the flood fury.
The government would open a dialogue with representatives of government employees associations to make an appeal to share their contribution for the Chief Minister’s Relief Fund for Kerala.
A separate bank account would be opened on Monday to enable public to make contributions for Kerala flood relief, he said.
Smart classrooms
Smart classrooms will be introduced in the regions of Puducherry and Karaikal under public-private partnership (PPP) mode. Spi Global, a BPO company in Puducherry, had come forward to establish smart classrooms in 58 government high and higher secondary schools in Puducherry and Karaikal.
Of these, 50 smart classrooms would be set up in Puducherry while the rest would be set up in Karaikal. Each smart classroom would be established at a cost of ₹1.50 lakh. These would improve the learning skills of students, he said.
The first smart classroom would be opened in the Government Higher Secondary School at Poornankuppam near here, which is also the alma mater of the Chief Minister, on August 24. Parliamentary Secretary to Chief Minister K. Lakshminarayanan was present.