Kerala: 444 villages flood-affected, government clears rehab plan
The number of villages declared as flood-affected has been raised from 198 to 444 by including 251 more villages.
Thiruvananthapuram: The cabinet on Tuesday decided to take a slew of measures, including relief and rehabilitation, in the flood-affected districts.
The number of villages declared as flood-affected has been raised from 198 to 444 by including 251 more villages. The worst-affected places are in Idukki and Wayanad.
The government decided to grant financial assistance of Rs 10,000 to each family which spent a minimum of two days in relief camps because of flooding, landslides or damage to houses. A compensation of Rs 4 lakh would be given for houses that were fully damaged and Rs 10 lakh to those who lost their houses and land.
The chief minister appealed to the staff of government departments and state public sector units to contribute two days’ salary and PSUs and cooperative institutions to contribute their CSR funds for the relief fund. The government has urged the State-Level Bankers’ Committee to exempt bank accounts to which financial assistance is being deposited from the minimum balance condition.
The government has also urged the SLBC to exempt the commission and exchange charges levied by public sector banks and cooperative banks. UAE Exchange and Lulu Exchange have agreed to waive off the commission and exchange charges.
The government decided to hold adalats at grama panchayats, municipalities’ and corporations to provide new documents to the people who lost the original in the floods. The documents would be given without charging fee till September 30. Special adalats would be held between September 3 and 15.
The minister in charge of the district and a secretary-level officer would be responsible for organising the adalats.
The application for the new documents would be received at the Akshaya centres without charging any fee.
A cabinet subcommittee has been constituted to ensure time-bound disbursal of compensation and relief material to the affected persons. The committee comprises E.P. Jayarajan, E. Chandrashekharan, Mathew T. Thomas, A.K. Saseendran and Ramachandran Kadanapally.
The fish workers who lost fishing gear would be compensated. Farmers whose crops were destroyed in floods would be given adequate assistance.
The one-year moratorium on the repayment of loans which was declared during the first phase of the floods would be extended to the areas which were ravaged in the monsoon.
The government has arranged facilities for contributing money through the centre’s Unified Payment Interface (UPI) on its website www.kerala.gov.in .The receipt and certificate for IT exemption on such contributions would be given on the spot. For money deposited at bank counters, the certificates for IT exemption would be provided within a day.