In a bid to bring transparency to the spending of contributions to the Prime Minister’s National Relief Fund in the wake of the December 26 tsunami, Manmohan Singh today released a detailed report on the disaster and its aftermath.The PM’s fund received over Rs 800 crores for tsunami relief. According to sources, the report would have come a little earlier, but for the Rs 5,000 crore with which Tamil Nadu had wanted to build a wall along the coast. Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa had reportedly proposed to build a wall to prevent extensive damage in the face of disasters like the Tsunami.‘‘The money has not been released but she has not given up the demand. She is likely to take it up in the meetings of National Development Council and the National Integration Council in the next few months,’’ sources disclosed. Initially, it was dismissed as a whimsical idea but then Tamil Nadu pointed out to the success of such a wall in Holland.Tamil Nadu was the worst affected state in India, with more than 8,000 people losing their lives and nearly two lakh dwellings detroyed. In monetary terms, as per the PM’s report, the total damage was estimated at about Rs 11,555 crore — Rs 342.67 crore in Andhra Pradesh, Rs 2371.02 crore in Kerala, Rs 4528.66 crore in Tamil Nadu, Rs 466.00 crore in Pondicherry and Rs 3836.56 crore in Andaman & Nicobar Islands.On the government’s response, the PM said that following an immediate recce of the tsunami affected areas, from islands to mainland, Rs 700 crore was released for carrying out immediate relief and response to the affected states and Union Territories which included Rs 250 crore for Tamil Nadu, Rs 100 crore for Andhra Pradesh, Rs 100 crore for Kerala, Rs 50 crore for Pondicherry and Rs 200 crore for Andaman & Nicobar Islands.According to sources, Jayalalithaa, making a case for the wall, had pointed out that the fisherman community of Tamil Nadu was worst affected. This was also borne out in the report, which said that among the fishermen community along the coastline, about 75 per cent of the lives lost were of women and children, and Tamil Nadu was worst affected.The Centre also released money under the Rajiv Gandhi Special Package. This included Rs 2347.19 crore to Tamil Nadu, Rs 70 crore to Andhra Pradesh, Rs 249.36 crore to Kerala, Rs 155.62 crore to Pondicherry, and Rs 821.88 crore to Andaman & Nicobar Islands.
