CHENNAI: Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa on Saturday announced a comprehensive special package worth `790.18 crore for farmers in Cuddalore and Villupuram districts, the worst affected in Cyclone Thane. While `65.22 crore has been allotted for agricultural crops, `724.96 crore will be givenfor horticultural crops.

A Rs.1,000-crore project of building one lakh concrete houses in cyclone-hit districts such as Cuddalore and Villupuram was the highlight of Governor K. Rosaiah's address to the Assembly on Monday.

Mr. Rosaiah, who delivered his first address as Governor since assumption of office in August, said the State would take up the construction immediately to replace the damaged huts in the districts

The Tamil Nadu Government would construct one lakh concrete houses at a cost of Rs 1,000 crore to replace the damaged huts in the cyclone Thane affected districts of Cuddalore and Villupuram, the Governor, Mr K. Rosaiah, said today.

The State Government has also presented a memorandum spelling out the quantum of damage and has sought an assistance of Rs 5,248 crore from the Centre, he recalled.

The Government would take up construction of one lakh concrete houses immediately to provide safe shelter to the affected families, he said in his address to the Assembly.

Tamil Nadu Government would construct one lakh concrete houses at a cost of Rs 1000 crore to replace damaged huts in the Cyclone Thane affected districts of Cuddalore and Villupuram, Governor K Rosaiah said on Monday.

The state government has also presented a memorandum spelling out the quantum of damage and has sought an assistance of Rs 5248 crore from the Centre, he recalled.

CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa today alloted Rs 150 crore for immediate relief measures and directed four Ministers to visit the districts which bore the brunt of cyclonic storm 'Thane'.

After chairing a meeting with senior department officials, Jayalalithaa said she had asked her cabinet colleagues B V Ramana, T K M Chinnaiah, K A Jeyapaul and M C Sampath to visit Kancheepuram, Villupuram, Nagapattinam and Cuddalore districts, the worst hit by the storm which crossed the state coast this morning.

Cyclone Thane, packing wind speed of 140 kmph, made landfall on the coast between Cuddalore in Tamil and Puducherry Friday morning, officials of the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) here said.

“The cyclone is in the process of crossing between Cuddalore and Puducherry coast. The wind speed is around 140 kmph at Puducherry and Cuddalore. Waves measuring 1.5 metres height are hitting the shoreline,” an IMD official told IANS.

Pallavan Grama Bank, Regional Rural Bank (RRB) sponsored by Indian Bank, has launched a pilot project on mobile-enabled Kisan Credit Card aimed at the farming community.

This pilot project is funded by Nabard (National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development).

It has been launched on pilot basis to benefit farmers in Villupuram district
A mobile-enabled kisan card system to help the agricultural community engage in cashless transactions, especially with their input providers, was launched here on Sunday to benefit farmers in Villupuram district of Tamil Nadu by Pallavan Grama Bank.

A sum of Rs. 1.8 crore has been earmarked for implementing solid waste management project in Villupuram district, according to Collector C.T. Manimekalai.
Addressing a seminar on “Solid waste management” held here on Wednesday, she said while the Centre has sanctioned Rs. 1.08 crore, the State contributed Rs. 36 lakh and beneficiary groups, Rs. 36 lakh. Ms. Manimekalai said 60 sites had been identified across the district for project implementation. It would begin with the Collectorate campus, where outgrowth would be cleared and saplings planted.

Underscoring that the growth of a State would be judged best by the quality of well-connected roads, Chief Minister Jayalalithaa on Wednesday announced various projects, including the development of three Chennai roads to international standards and extension of East Coast Road (ECR) up to Kanyakumari.