The Edappadi Palaniswami-led Tamil Nadu government may be at the receiving end of public anger for being unprepared for the monsoons, but residents are heaping praise on the men in khaki for going beyond the call of duty.
Torrential rains on Thursday evening saw several areas in Chennai getting waterlogged, with citizens having to wade through knee-deep water in places like Mudichur, Velachery, S Kolathur and other areas.
Leading efforts to restore normalcy to the city was Chennai Police Commissioner AK Viswanathan, who along with other senior police officers reviewed relief measures on the ground.
Pictures showed several men in uniform, with their pants rolled up, working to drain rainwater from waterlogged areas. Police officials also distributed food in rain affected areas like Velachery.
The Chennai Police’s Facebook showed that cops have been carrying out “monsoon improvement work” since Tuesday.
The efforts of the police haven’t gone unnoticed by the public either, with comments on social media commending officers for their efforts. Actor Kamal Haasan was also quick to thank the men in khaki for going beyond the call of duty.
However, unlike the heroes in uniform, the Tamil Nadu government has been criticised for not learning lessons from the 2015 floods, and for failing to prepare for the monsoons.
Statements by Municipal Administration Minister SP Velumani have also been derided by social media users. The minister had earlier this week justified the state’s preparedness for the rains, stating “It rained in Bengaluru recently, earlier it rained in the UK and the US and we were told it was flooded everywhere. It shows our action is better than those of developed countries.”
On Thursday, Chennai received the highest rainfall since December 2015, with observatories in Meenambakkam and Nungambakkam recording 14 cm and 18 cm respectively.
According to reports, 12 people have been killed in rain-related incidents in Chennai alone since the onset of the Northeast monsoon at the end of October.
(Originally published on The News Minute)
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