Plea seeks to restore normalcy after Gaja

A division bench comprising Justice M Sathyanarayanan and Justice N Seshasayee said the announcements made by Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi Palanisamy that a sanction of Rs1,000 crore has been made to undertake relief work and it has instilled confidence that relief work was progressing in the right direction.

Citing newspaper reports that the President and the Prime Minister had spoken to the Chief Minister enquiring about the damages caused by Cyclone Gaja, the bench, however, agreed to hear the plea on Thursday after holding that the court is monitoring the situation.

S Rajanikanth, president, Makkal Arasu Katchi on seeking to declare the damages caused by Cyclone Gaja in 12 districts, especially in the delta region viz Nagapattinam, Thiruvarur, Thanjavur, Pudukkottai, as a ‘national disaster’, said the cyclone, besides leaving 46 people dead and displacing 2.5 lakh people, destroyed paddy, sugarcane and other crops grown in 88,120 hectares, uprooted 1.70 lakh trees and damaged 1.17 Lakh houses.

Moreover, the cyclone, besides causing the death of hundreds of cattle and goats, uprooted 50,000 electric poles, affecting normal life in Nagapattinam, Thiruvarur, Thanjavur and Pudukottai district with people struggling without food, water and electricity. Further, due to non-clearance of carcasses of dead animals, there is an imminent threat of communicable diseases, the plea said.

Based on this, the plea sought to direct the government to take steps on a war footing to restore electricity connection, pay fair compensation to the victims and construct new concrete houses to families whose houses were destroyed.