PUDUCHERRY: A Central team will visit Puducherry and Cuddalore district, in Tamil Nadu, either on Wednesday or Thursday to assess the damages caused by Cyclone Thane, said Union Home Minister P Chidambaram on Tuesday.He was speaking to reporters at Pudukuppam Moorthikuppam after visiting cyclone-hit areas. The minister, who spent two hours visiting the affected areas and people, said Puducherry has suffered extensive damage.Chidambaram said he and Union Minister V Narayanasamy would meet Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and finance minister Pranab Mukherjee to appraise them of the situation after reaching Delhi on Tuesday night. He added that an announcement on the quantum of relief would be made after the discussion.Assuring that Central government would provide all assistance to tide over the crisis, he said the UT and state government would start the distribution of relief amount announced earlier from Tuesday itself.The Home Minister said the Tamil Nadu and Puducherry governments would submit a report on the assessment of damage to the Centre on Tuesday. Priority should be given to ensure that fishermen and others, who had lost their equipment, resumed their work. Quoting the officials’ interim assessment figures submitted by the state government, he said paddy, sugarcane, banana, betel nuts and casuarina trees in nearly 17,012 hectares were destroyed and 86,000 huts were damaged during the cyclone.Pointing out that the electricity lines have been snapped and 124 transformers were damaged in the rural areas alone, he said the officials of the government were working round the clock to restore the power supply. He appealed to the people to be ‘understanding’ and patient.
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