Kerala gets Rs 100 crore as flood relief

KOCHI: The Union government has sanctioned Rs 100 crore as immediate assistance to the rain-ravaged Kerala while the state demanded Rs 1,220 crore. Union home minister Rajnath Singh announced the aid after making a whirlwind tour to some of the flood-affected places on Sunday. Chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan had given him a representation citing rough estimation of damages at Rs 8,316 crore and demanding an interim relief of 1,220 crore.

Promising every help for the state to meet the present situation Mr Singh, however, remained non-committal on declaring it as a national calamity. Describing the flood situation the worst since the 1924 deluge, he said the Union government had released Rs 80 crore each earlier. He said the demand for more would be considered. The minister along with Mr Vijayan, Union tourism minister Alphons Kannanthanam and others made an aerial survey of the flood-hit Idukki and Ernakulam districts. 

He also visited a relief camp on the outskirts of Ernakulam. The state is facing the monsoon ravages for the second time within a month, and new team should be sent for assessing the loss and damages afresh, it said. As torrential rains had thrown normal life out of gear in many parts of Kerala last week, the personnel of the Army, Navy, Airforce and Coast Guard have sprung into action, extending all support to local people and authorities to face the deluge.

Since then, the defence personnel are tirelessly working 24x7 in evacuating hapless people from isolated places, constructing temporary bridges, repairing and clearing roads in villages of Kerala, braving incessant rains and landslip threats.

Meanwhile, a pet dog turned out to be the saviour of its master and his family when the animal woke them up at 3 am, minutes before their house collapsed in a landslip at a hamlet in this high range district of Kerala. As ‘Rocky’ yelped and made disturbing sounds, Mohanan and his wife woke up and tried to find out what was wrong. They soon heard a thunderous noise and ran out of their house, only to find to their horror their dwelling unit collapsing at picturesque Keerithode on Thursday, Mohanan told a television channel.