Puducherry:

A holiday for all government and private schools, as well as colleges, on Tuesday (December 3), has been announced due to heavy rainfall caused by Cyclone Fengal, said Puducherry’s Education Minister, A Namachivayam.

Meanwhile, the Puducherry government has announced to provide relief assistance of Rs 5,000 each to all ration cardholders affected by Cyclone Fengal, Chief Minister N Rangaswamy said on Monday.

“Due to cyclone Fengal, Puducherry received 48% rainfall, which was unexpected. The Puducherry government has decided to provide relief assistance of Rs 5,000 to all ration cardholders affected by the cyclone,” Mr Rangaswamy told reporters.

“Additionally, due to heavy rainfall, 10,000 hectares of crops in the Puducherry state have been damaged. Therefore, we have decided to provide Rs 30,000 per hectare to affected farmers. Cyclone Fengal has left a trail of destruction in Puducherry and Tamil Nadu. The recent floods have damaged 50 boats, and the government has announced a relief package of Rs 10,000 for their repair,” he added.

The cyclone resulted in extremely heavy rainfall in coastal regions of north Tamil Nadu and Puducherry.

Particularly affected was the Sankaraparani River in Puducherry, where over 200 residences in NR Nagar were inundated. The people living in the area remain stranded as the Indian Army along with the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) are actively involved in rescue operations.

The Union Territory witnessed severe flooding, especially in areas surrounding the Sankaraparani River in Puducherry, where over 200 residences in NR Nagar were inundated. The people living in the area remain stranded as the Indian Army along with the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) are actively involved in rescue operations.

The rescue teams are focused on saving lives, with boats deployed to navigate flooded streets and evacuate affected residents.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Puducherry:

Normal life was crippled in Puducherry on Sunday due to heavy rains that lashed the union territory in the wake of Cyclone Fengal, which crossed the coast here on November 30 night.

According to India Meteorological Department, Puducherry recorded 46 cm rainfall during the last 24 hours ending 9 am today.

Cyclone Fengal triggered heavy rainfall leading to inundation of all residential areas on the outskirts Of boulevard limits. Trees were uprooted at various places under the impact of the cyclonic storm. Power outage was reported in most of the localities since 11 pm on Saturday.

Many housing colonies were waterlogged and residents could not step out of the dwellings for hours together. Two-wheelers and cars parked on roads partially submerged in rainwater that entered several houses here, residents said.

#WATCH | Flood-like situation in parts of Puducherry following incessant rainfall; buildings and vehicles submerged#CycloneFengal

(Drone visuals) pic.twitter.com/IXs8e1ITBT

— ANI (@ANI) December 1, 2024

All shops and business establishments remained closed and the government set up relief centers to accommodate people evacuated from low-lying areas.

Senior citizens opined that such fury of nature was witnessed over three decades ago in the union territory.

Main thoroughfares and arterial roads were waterlogged disrupting daily life. Farmlands with standing crops bore the brunt of the heavy rain.

Transport services were hit and voluntary organisations like Pondicherry Heritage Round Table 167 volunteered to supplement the efforts of the government to supply food packets to people staying in relief camps.

Officials said rescue operations are underway in multiple affected areas and hundreds of residents were evacuated from flood-hit areas.

The operations have been conducted efficiently with the coordinated efforts of the local administration, police forces, Army and specialized rescue teams.

Efforts are ongoing in Jeeva Nagar and other vulnerable areas to evacuate people and provide necessary relief, they said. 

(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

Schools and colleges in Puducherry and parts of Tamil Nadu will remain closed tomorrow, with the possibility of a cyclone hitting the coastal areas.

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Puducherry:

The President has accepted the advice of Puducherry Chief Minister N Rangasamy to remove Chandira Priyanga from his cabinet “with immediate effect”.

A notification of the Union Home Ministry sent to the Puducherry government on Saturday stated the President “on the advice of the Chief Minister of Puducherry is pleased to remove Smt Chandira Priyanga, Minister for Transport of Puducherry Government from the present Council of Ministers of Puducherry with immediate effect”.

Chief Secretary Rajeev Verma issued an order republishing the notification “for information of the general public”.

The Chief Minister had recommended on October 8 to the Centre through the Lt Governor to remove Chandira Priyanga from his ministry as “she was deficient in performance as Minister”.

Chandira Priyanga, the only woman legislator in the current House was elected to Puducherry Assembly in the 2021 polls from Neduncadu reserved segment in Karaikal.

On October 10, she had announced her resignation as minister, citing political conspiracy and gender bias.

However, Speaker R Selvam had said that Chandira Priyanga showed deficient performance in Transport department and the Chief Minister wanted to drop her from his cabinet.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Hyderabad:

Puducherry’s lone woman legislator, S Chandira Priyanga, resigned as a minister from the AINRC-BJP government alleging gender and caste-based discrimination.

Explaining her decision, the 34-year-old said that the ‘male-dominated’ political world does not let women flourish.

“Women are treated only as women. You may be educated, even come from a privileged background but the male-dominated political world conspires to treat you in such a manner as to break you. You do not get respect even if you are capable and doing your job well,” Ms Priyanga told NDTV.

In 2021, the Neduncadu MLA became the first woman to be made a minister in the union territory after a gap of over 40 years. Ms Priyanga was then handed the Transport portfolio in the N Ranagsamy-led coalition cabinet.

Ms Priyanga said that she had always been proud of her Dalit woman identity but didn’t think it would be used against her. “After resigning, I feel free now, to work for the people who reposed confidence in me and do what I set out to do,” the leader said when asked why she didn’t stay back and fight.

“Why should it matter whether you are a man or woman, where you came from? What should matter is whether you can deliver and work for people but that doesn’t happen. I couldn’t take the harassment rooted in patriarchy,” she said.

In her resignation letter, Ms Priyanga requested Chief Minister N Rangasamy to appoint a person from a Dalit, Vanniyar, or some other marginalised community as her replacement in the ministry.

She said in her letter that although she entered the Assembly due to her popularity among the people in her constituency, she, however, realised it was not so easy to overcome “politics of conspiracy and I could not fight against the big ghost of money power”.

“I was also targeted continuously and found that I could not bear the politics of conspiracy and the big ghost of money power any longer beyond certain limits,” she wrote.