Wayanad landslides: Kerala CM slams Centre for stonewalling State’s demands for urgent release of rehabilitation funds

In a meeting with MPs from Kerala, Pinarayi Vijayan says Centre had given disaster aid to other States without their respective governments raising a demand 

Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan told Kerala MPs at a meeting on Thursday (November 21, 2024) that the Central government had repeatedly ignored the State’s plea for urgent financial assistance to rehabilitate the people of the landslide-ravaged Wayanad district. 

Mr. Vijayan said the government had sought an initial assistance of ₹1,202 crore and submitted the demand in the requisite format within the mandated 100 days of the disaster. However, no aid seemed forthcoming from the Central government. 

In contrast, Mr. Vijayan said the Centre had given disaster aid to other States without their respective governments raising a demand. 

Mr. Vijayan said that despite Prime Minister Narendra Modi visiting Wayanad, the Centre had yet to declare the landslide that wiped out at least three villages ‘a disaster of severe nature.’

He said the lack of the vital declaration had precluded the State from seeking assistance from international agencies or funds from the Centre’s disaster relief pool.

Moreover, the declaration sought by the State would give a legal basis to banks to write off the debts incurred by people hit by the landslide. 

CM lying to people: BJP

Former Union Minister and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader V. Muraleedharan accused Mr. Vijayan of “lying to the people of Kerala.” He said the Centre had rushed aid to the State despite the government’s inordinate delay in submitting its demand in the required format. 

Mr. Muraleedharan said the media had misinterpreted his statement that the disaster had wiped out three local body wards and did not affect Wayanad district as a whole. 

“I had quoted from the State government’s official assessment of the disaster’s scale”, he added.

Published - November 21, 2024 01:01 pm IST