Monday, November 28 2005 14:08 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Chennai: Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa today (Nov 28, 2005) announced a special aid package to families who had suffered after being marooned or temporarily displaced from their houses in the recent unprecedented rains.

Under the package, a cash relief of Rs 1,000, 10 kgs of rice, one saree, one dhoti and one litre of kerosene would be given to the victims, whose houses were marooned, she said in a statement.

"The package would cover families in marooned villages and towns, villages and towns from where people had to be displaced or evacuated due to flood threat, villages and towns where relief centres had to opened or food packets distributed and villages and towns, which faced inundation for at least one day, "she said.

The Chief Minister said she had sought an advance of Rs 3,000 crore from the Centre to meet the expenditure for immediate relief and restoration of infrastructure. Without waiting for the centre's response, she had announced the special package to provide immediate relief to the affected families, she said.

She said she had instructed district collectors to make an immediate assessment of the crop damage. A separate relief package for affected farmers would be announced expeditiously.

The current package was different from the one she announced on Oct 30, under which a cash relief of Rs 2000, 10 kgs of rice, one saree, one dhoti and one litre of kerosene was distributed to each family, whose huts were damaged, Jayalalithaa said.