Indian Finance Minister P Chidambaram has said that there is no dearth of funds with the central government in carrying out massive relief operations for the thousands of people hit by the killer tsunami on Sunday.
Chidambaram, who is on a visit to the villages wrecked by the tidal waves in the coastal areas of Cuddalore and
Nagapattinam, said the government would provide all kind of assistance to all the states affected by the tragedy.
"There is no shortage of funds available with the Centre. We want the state governments to come out with long-term relief assistance programmes," Chidambaram told rediff.com.
He urged the Tamil Nadu government to extend long-term relief assistance to fishermen on a war footing as a number of fishing hamlets have disappeared and they have no means of survival now.
The finance minister said the government machinery has been fully activated to tackle the after-effects of the catastrophe.
"We are extending emergency relief measures to fishermen affected by the tidal waves on a war footing. However, long-term rehabilitation assistance, such as houses for persons who were rendered homeless, and fishing nets and boats to fishermen should be extended immediately," he pointed out.
Chidambaram also said that elected representatives like MPs, MLAs and Panchayat members should monitor the relief work.
The Centre has also asked the Insurance major New India Assurance Company to provide insurance cover to the fishermen who had lost their boats in the tsunami.
Chidambaram said that based on the assessment of damage by the state governments, the Centre would decide whether to relax the norms for drawing from the Central Calamity Contingency Fund.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has deputed a number of ministers to Cuddolore and Nagapattinam to carry out relief operations and take on-the-spot assessment of the devastation.
Communications and Information Technology Minister Dayanidhi Maran, Petroleum Minister Mani Shankar Aiyer and Environment Minister A Raja have been extensively touring the two districts apart from Chidambaram.
Raja said that the Centre has already initiated discussions with leading research institutes and scientists on the possibility of predicting the tsunami-like natural disasters in the country.
"We will put in place tsunami detectors in India so that the people and the government are able to do rescue operations before such calamities hit us," Raja told rediff.com.
