A decision on granting additional funds for Wayanad will be taken in a month, Centre tells Kerala HC

Court asks Additional Solicitor General to expedite requests for waiving off loans taken by landslides survivors

The Union government on Friday informed a Division Bench of the Kerala High Court that the High Level Committee would take a call in a month on declaring the landslides in Wayanad as L3 category and providing additional assistance sought by the State government from the National Disaster Response Funds (NDRF) for relief measures.

The submission was made by Additional Solicitor General of India A.R.L. Sundaresan when a suo motu case registered in the wake of the landslides came up for hearing. He pointed out that as of now sufficient funds were available in the State Disaster Response Funds (SDRF) for the relief operations.

Centre’s letter

When Advocate General K. Gopalakrishna Kurup submitted that a letter from the Union Minister of State for Home Affairs said that no additional funds would be given other than what had been already allocated, the Bench said that the letter did not say so. ”When we read the letter it doesn’t give such an impression,” the court added.

The court also asked the Additional Solicitor General to expedite the requests for waiving off the loans taken by the landslides survivors from various scheduled banks.

Published - November 15, 2024 06:30 pm IST