Friday, December 16 2005 16:37 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Chennai: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has assured Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa that the Centre would provide maximum support to the rain-hit state in its relief and rehabilitation work.

The assurance was given to Jayalalithaa, when she called on him at New Delhi this morning.

An official press release quoted Dr Singh as saying that he would personally monitor the flow of support and assistance to the state.

Jayalalithaa sought the Prime Minister's immediate intervention to release assistance to the state.

The state had sought Rs.13,685 crore aid along with 2.58 lakh tonnes of rice and 43,000 KL of kerosene as an additional allotment for this month to undertake immediate relief works.

She told him that the state had been battered by repeated torrential rains, resulting in extensive flooding during the current North-East monsoon.

Rainfall between October one to December 14 alone was 813.09 MM against the normal average of 470 mm during the North east monsoon, she told him adding that Chennai had witnessed 1869.7 mm against a normal rainfall of 701.6 mm, which was "almost three times the normal rainfall and the highest in a century."

Though the bountiful rainfall was welcome especially after unprecedented drought, "the extraordinary kind of rainfall has put the people to immense suffering and extreme hardship," she said.