Kerala will integrate Karnataka offer into Wayand rehabilitation plan: Pinarayi

On Monday, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan sought to extinguish the controversy surrounding the allegation that Kerala had cold-shouldered the Karnataka government’s offer to build 100 houses for the landslides-displaced families in Wayanad. 

In a letter to Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, Mr. Vijayan said he had received the former’s letter on December 9.

Mr. Vijayan said the Chief Secretaries of both States had communicated on December 6. He said Kerala was processing a detailed sponsorship framework to streamline and aggregate offers of support for distressed families from various quarters.

The Kerala government would use the framework to integrate “generous offers” of help, including that of the Karnataka government, into the comprehensive rehabilitation plan for disaster-affected families.

Mr. Vijayan informed Mr. Siddaramaiah that the government planned to rehabilitate the families in a natural disaster-resilient locality near their residences, which were submerged by the catastrophic landslip.

Mr. Vijayan said he would keep the Karnataka government appraised of its rehabilitation plan, which the State was planning.

Earlier, Mr. Siddaramaiah, in a letter to Mr Vijayan, had expressed concern that Karnataka had received no communication from the Kerala government despite the former’s promise to build 100 houses.

The Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) Opposition and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had used the Karnataka government’s communique to accuse the Left Democratic Front (LDF) government of apathy towards the people of Wayanad.

Published - December 16, 2024 08:44 pm IST