Chennai floods: Venkiah Naidu meets Jayalalithaa, asks all states to remove encroachments on wetlands

CHENNAI: Urban development minister M Venkaiah Naidu on Sunday warned all state governments to take immediate steps to remove encroachments on wetlands and strengthen reservoirs and water bodies to avoid future tragedies like the recent floods in Chennai, which ravaged the city.
Naidu met Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa and other state ministers and senior officials at the secretariat on Sunday morning.He discussed flood relief measures and other key issues with them.
After the meeting, which lasted around 40 minutes, Naidu told reporters that all states should "learn lessons from this tragedy."
States should undertake measures on war footing to remove encroachments, widen water bodies and reservoirs, strengthen bunds and maintain a 'green belt' of 5-30 metres on riverbanks, to safeguard against flooding, he said.
Earlier, Naidu visited flood-hit areas like Tambaram, Velachery and Ekkaduthangal and interacted with residents.
According to an official release, Jayalalithaa has requested the ministry of housing and urban poverty alleviation to provide assistance by way of a special grant for a Rs 5,000-crore housing project planned by the state government.