Cyclone Nivar has set a race between the MLAs of the ruling AIADMK and the DMK with both carrying relief works in rain-hit areas of north Tamil Nadu.
DMK president MK Stalin overseeing relief works in Chennai on Wednesday
Chennai:
The ruling AIADMK has directed the party workers to take all efforts to carry out relief works in rain-hit areas of north Tamil Nadu with just months left for the next Assembly polls. In a joint statement issued on Wednesday, AIADMK coordinator and Deputy Chief Minister O Panneerselvam and deputy coordinator and Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami urged the party workers and the senior functionaries to step up relief works.
Assuring that the state government was trying its best to help the public during this monsoon time, the statement said the party should extend help at this time of crisis. Ministers, district secretaries, elected representatives, members of local bodies and party wing members should reach out to the public, it added.
The efforts should focus on the provision of food, clothes, basic requirements of women and children. The party workers should also make arrangements in alleviating waterlogging by pressing into service high power motor pumps. The cadre should also help the state officials in speeding up the relief works like clearing of uprooted trees or providing food packets, the statement said.
The party high command also asked the workers to share the details of the relief works carried out by them in their respective wards and districts, along with photographs, to the headquarters. It also urged the cadre to continue the relief works even after the cyclone makes a landfall.
The relief works should continue until normalcy returns, the AIADMK statement added.
Stalin warns state of COVID spread during cyclone
DMK president MK Stalin has appealed to the state government to ensure that Cyclone Nivar does not contribute to a second wave of COVID-19 in the state.
Clad in a long-jacket and rain boots and accompanied by his district secretary Sekar Babu and Central Chennai MP Dayanidhi Maran, Stalin who visited several flood affected areas in the city, said the cyclone and rain should not trigger a second wave of COVID-19, which has been threatening the state for the last nine months.
Wading through knee-high water on the roads in his Kolathur constituency, the DMK president also instructed his district secretaries to swing into action in all affected areas.
Stalin also urged the government to pay attention to the safety of people on the banks of Adyar River, who foresee a 2015-like flood situation owing to the opening of Chembarambakkam reservoir.
Advising his party cadre to extend best possible cooperation to officials involved in flood relief works, the DMK president said the party workers should work keeping in mind people’s safety as their priority.
Condoles Ahmed Patel’s demise
Earlier in the day, the DMK president condoled the demise of senior Congress leader Ahmed Patel. In his condolence message posted on his official Twitter handle, Stalin said, “Extremely saddened to hear of the passing of Mr Ahmed Patel, who was a lynchpin of the Indian National Congress. On behalf of the DMK, I extend my condolences to his family as well as the Congress cadres who are mourning his loss.”
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