OPS supervises relief efforts, materials pour in to aid victims

From Theni, the bordering district along Tamil Nadu-Kerala, twenty tonnes of rice in 480 bags were dispatched to Kerala, on Sunday, in the presence of Deputy Chief Minister O Panneerselvam, Theni Collector M Pallavi Baldev and Superintendent of Police, V Baskaran.

Volunteers contributed generously to help the flood victims. Besides, contributions from AIADMK cadres helped to supply relief material worth Rs 30 lakh. The relief supplies were handed over to officials from Department of Revenue of Idukki and Udumbanchola at a check post in Idukki, sources said.

With efforts of voluntary donors in parts of Thoothukudi district, they mobilised to provide relief assistance to the tune of Rs 9 lakh, on Saturday, through District Administration. On Sunday, the NLC Tamil Nadu Power Limited, Tuticorin came forward and offered relief supplies worth Rs 15 lakh. It includes essential commodities such as rice, dhal, biscuits, bedsheets, napkins, candles, match box, saris and dhotis.

According to Tirunelveli Collector Shilpa Prabhakar Satish, relief assistance worth Rs 3 lakh including 30 tonnes of rice through Civil Supplies Corporation were sent to Pathanamthitta, Kerala. Besides, a truckload of medicines, food stuff and clothes worth Rs 10.60 lakh and truckload of water bottles valued at Rs 16,000 were dispatched. Private rice mill owners offered 20 tonnes of rice. Moreover, seven tonnes of vegetables from Keelapavoor market were transported.

Further, the Collector, when contacted, said that 30 oxygen cylinders from Tirunelveli Government Medical College Hospital to medical college in Alappuzha, which is one of the flood-hit areas, where 80,000 victims were being accommodated in relief camps, had been sent. If required, more oxygen cylinders would be dispatched. 

While most of the relief supplies were moved to Quilon (Kollam) from Tirunelveli, on Saturday, it was Alappuzha, on Sunday. Since the road communication from Shencottah to Quilon, where it had cracks in the road surface, was unsafe, the relied material had been taken through Trivandrum road, the Collector added.