Damage caused by Gaja cyclone in Tamil Nadu
Chennai: An IAS officer leads rescue team to Tamil Nadu’s hamlets left inaccessible by November 15 cyclone GAJA. Johny Tom Varghese is the Additional Director of Tamil Nadu Fisheries Department who was appointed as Nodal Officer of Nagapattinam. It is in such precarious conditions as the onslaught of cyclone GAJA that the involvement of bureaucrats plays a critical role and their expertise in making quick decisions, ensuring timely actions comes into the fore. He is one such person who truly pulled all the stops in this regard. The cyclone hit population too, in places, spontaneously repaired roads to enable relief to be rushed to worst hit spots unhindered. Systematic and timely relief work was rendered by the RSS swayamsevaks and Seva Bharati workers. Over 600 of them were active from day one. The six major Seva Bharati relief camps spread across worst hit districts were pivotal in routing men and material from all over the state to ground zero. Seva Bharati, Dakshin Tamil Nadu appealed for help to intensify the relief work.
