Cyclone Ockhi: Corporation seeks Rs 213 crore grant from Centre

CHENNAI: The civic body has put forth a proposal for a grant of Rs 213 crore from the Union government under disaster management for the temporary repair of damages caused due to Cyclone Ockhi, said sources in the corporation.

A three-member team visited the city,

Tiruvallur

and

Kancheepuram

on Thursday. They took note of eight sites in the city that saw a severe waterlogging during Cyclone Ockhi .

“ The grant will be used to rebuild drains, buildings, parks, roads and to make up for work we did in removing the water and rehabilitating residents from those areas. The idea was to take the team around and show the conditions prevailing in places like the

Otteri Nullah

and EVK Sampath

Salai

after the cyclone,” said a senior official.

According to sources, the civic body head has also written to the state government for a grant of Rs 256 crore. “The drain on the EVK Sampath Salai is an old one and its capacity can be increased if we set up a new one. Many such permanent augmentation works need funds ,” a source said.

The visit also saw traffic hold ups due to the convoy used by the central and state officials.