Church for clarity on Ockhi funds

Thiruvananthapuram: KCBC president and Thiruvananthapuram Latin Catholic Archbishop M. Soosapakiam has asked the state government to clarify the discrepancies in the utilisation of Ockhi funds.

Earlier, the Church had alleged that the disaster management authority had not taken up any projects using the '143.54-crore funds allotted by the centre and that the funds had lapsed.

However, countering this, Fisheries Minister J. Mercykuttyamma had said that the state government had spent more money than that allotted for Ockhi as disaster response fund. The centre had allotted only '111.7 crore. However, the state spent '159.32 crore for rehabilitation, the minister said.

The archbishop said that there were doubts about the spending of more than '100 crore. Funds may have been spent in places other than coastal areas. The Church was not sure about it, but it has the right to seek clarity on the issue. The government has to explain  it, he said.

The chances of such a high amount being spent in the coast were remote, he said.