Increase cyclone relief to ₹10,000, Annamalai tells T.N. government

Tamil Nadu BJP president K. Annamalai on Saturday said the relief amount of ₹6,000 announced by the State government for all the families affected by Cyclone Michaung was inadequate and demanded it to be increased to ₹10,000.

In a statement, Mr. Annamalai claimed that the government was misleading the public, alleging it to have increased the relief amount for certain specific types of losses on its own.

He said the State government had not contributed anything from its end and instead announced the relief as per the Union government’s norms by utilising the ₹900 crore released by the Union government this year to the State Disaster Relief Fund. He said the increase in these categories were as per the norms set by Union Ministry of Home Affairs in July 2023.

For instance, the relief of ₹8,000 for damaged huts, ₹22,500 per hectare for loss of perennial crops and trees, ₹37,500 for loss of buffaloes and cows and ₹4,000 for loss of sheep and goat were as per the norms set by the Union government, Mr. Annamalai said.

Urging Chief Minister M.K. Stalin to increase the relief for affected families to ₹10,000, he also stressed that the affected people should not be “burdened” in receiving the relief due to “needless intervention of DMK functionaries”.