NAGAPATTINAM: Over 200 people including women staged protests near Nagapattinam on Tuesday alleging they have been receiving insufficient relief material for cyclone damage.

The protests took place near Kadai Theru in Peravai village and near the Shrine Basilica Arch in Velankanni and caused traffic jams for about an hour on Tuesday morning.  

The villagers staged a road roko on the Nagapattinam-Vedaranyam road and shouted slogans protesting the lack of government aid.

“We are a cyclone-affected village. We may be an entity in the records of the government but every bit of relief material is important to us. Many boxes that reached us had already been opened and did not contain umbrellas or tarpaulins. How would we survive in monsoon and winter?” said D Jayalakshmi, a villager from Peravai.

People also alleged their welfare is being overlooked due to their proximity to Nagapattinam town and the distance from Vedaranyam.

Revenue officials arrived at the spot and asked protesters to stop their demonstration and allow vehicles to pass.

Speaking to Express, a revenue official said, “We assured them of making sure all 30 necessary relief materials reach them properly. But we cannot credit compensation to those who have not been surveyed for remuneration. Those who had not been surveyed have also requested compensation but may be ineligible.  We will cross-check to see if we have left out any names.”

Villagers, however, maintained their villages have not been surveyed completely. Compensation provided for damaged boats was hardly enough to carry out repairs, they said.

“The government has not done enough to survey the losses properly. There are still many of us who have not received compensation and are now destitute,” said N Kanthaiyan, a fisherman representative from Velankanni.

Residents of Ponnankannikadu, Mavadukurichi area in Peravurani who were left out in relief material disbursement on Tuesday staged road blockade demanding relief materials. 

It is said of the total of more than 3,000 families living in the wards of 16,17 and 18 only 750 got the relief packs.