CM to visit Konkan region on Friday

Cabinet reviews damage & financial package for affected people

Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray will visit the cyclone Tautkae-hit Konkan region on Friday while the Relief and Rehabilitation Minister Vijay Wadettiwar will go on Thursday to take stock of the situation.

The state cabinet on Wednesday reviewed the damage caused by the cyclone and the financial package to be provided to the affected people.

Thackeray will visit cyclone-hit Sindhudurg and Ratnagiri districts on Friday.

Wadettiwar has said the preliminary estimates show that the damage in Thane, Palghar, Raigad, Ratnagiri, Sindhudurg, Mumbai and Mumbai Suburb has been over Rs 1,000 crore. The mango cultivation and other orchards have been severely damaged in the Konkan region. He said he has already held a meeting with the department secretary and the district collectors to discuss rescue and relief works and financial assistance to be given to the affected people.

The gover nment will pay Rs 4 lakh to the kin and kith of those who died in the cyclone fury. The minister said the district administration has launched conducting panchnama in these areas.

In addition, the MahaVitaran is carrying out restoration of power supply in 636 villages on a war footing. Wadettiwar said the government’s disaster management plan and the measures taken in advance have helped to tackle the cyclone as a record 17,500 people were shifted to safer places.

A senior minister told Free Press Jour nal, "The Cabinet chaired by CM took stock of the situation and the package to be provided to the affected people on the lines of Nisarga Cyclone which hit the coastal districts last year in excess of National Disaster Response Force norms.’’