No respite for Pondy, delta pounded

Official sources said Puducherry and its suburbs recorded 9.1 cm rainfall in the last 24 hours ending 8.30 am on Saturday. Total rainfall recorded in Puducherry since the beginning of this week has crossed 60 cm, sources said. Though hindered by the rains, a team of the Department of Revenue and Disaster Management, led by District Collector D Manikandan, has been intensifying its operation to provide relief to the rain-affected people and also those at the relief camps.

Several organisations like the Puducherry Heritage Round Table 167 have also been carrying out relief operations. In the wake of the torrential rains, the Puducherry government had declared holiday for all educational institutions till this weekend. The Pondicherry University has also put off all examinations scheduled to be held during this week at its departments and affiliated colleges. “Fresh dates would be announced soon,” university’s Assistant Registrar K. Mahesh said. Lt Governor A K Singh reviewed the situation and held several meetings with officials to discuss rescue operations and steps being taken to prevent an outbreak of diseases.

On Friday, after announcing a relief package of Rs 150 crore, Chief Minister N. Rangasamy had told reporters, “The rain havoc should be an eye-opener to locate the man-made reasons for devastation. Departments should plug the loopholes in maintenance of the storm water canals.” Karaikal too has been experiencing intermittent and heavy rains from Friday night and the showers continued on Saturday as well. Similarly, the three key districts of Thanjavur, Tiruvarur and Nagapattinam in delta region experienced heavy downpour. Though the rains brought cheers to farmers initially, the fresh spell has caused concern among it may destroy the standing samba in around 10.000 hectares in these three districts.