Vijayawada, December 31
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh announced today that the Centre would shortly convene an all-party meeting to chalk out an overall strategy to deal with the situation arising from the tsunami tragedy.“I will convene within the next two or three days a meeting of all parties so that the collective will of the nation is mobilised to deal with the situation,” he told a news conference after visiting the states affected by the disaster.
The Prime Minister asserted that resources would not come in the way of relief and rehabilitation efforts.
Dr Manmohan Singh, who visited the affected areas in Andhra Pradesh today, said the Centre would stand behind the state government in providing support to the affected families.
The Prime Minister announced a cash compensation of Rs 250 crore and Rs 100 crore for Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh respectively, for relief and rehabilitation of the victims.
He also announced an ex-gratia of Rs 100,000 to the next of kin of those who lost their lives in the tragedy.
He said he would he announce the compensation for Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry after consulting the Chief Ministers of the two states. He said HUDCO had earmarked Rs 10,000 crore for the reconstruction of damaged houses in the affected areas.
The Prime Minister said the tsunami disaster took the lives of 6,187 persons in Tamil Nadu alone while 300,000 persons were displaced from their homes. As many as 383 relief camps had been set up in the state where 25,000 houses were damaged.
Saying that he had come to “share your grief and sorrow” and to assure the people that the Centre was solidly behind the state governments in providing adequate and effective relief to the victims, Dr Manmohan Singh said the priority was to prevent the outbreak of epidemics in the aftermath of the tragedy. “I hope the healthcare authorities in the states are fully alert,” he said.
The Prime Minister yesterday visited the affected areas in
Kerala and announced Rs 100 crore for the state to meet the immediate relief and rehabilitation expenditure.
He said the banks had been instructed to take a lenient view in granting loans at concessional interest rates to the affected families.
Dr Manmohan Singh said priority should be focused on temporary shelter, safe drinking water, supply of fishing nets to fishworkers and textbooks to school children.
He complimented the Andhra Pradesh Government under the leadership of Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy for its “prompt response” to the tragedy.
— UNI
