Finance minister Dr T M Thomas Isaac, Jacob Thomas spar over relief'

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Finance minister Dr T. M. Thomas Isaac asked the suspended DGP, Jacob Thomas, to do “sufficient homework” before belting out “nonsense”. The minister was responding to Jacob Thomas’s sarcastic Facebook post on Saturday that insinuated that nearly Rs 6,500 crore would go into the pockets of the powers that be in the name of Ockhi disaster. 

In his post, styled like a page in a ledger book, Jacob Thomas estimates that nothing more than Rs 700 crore was required for compensation and rehabilitation of Ockhi victims. His last two entries state: money required - Rs 700 crore; available balance - Rs 7,000 crore. And then as a closing remark, there is the ridicule thrown at the government in bold font. “Am I getting my math right? Will find a new mathematics teacher..." 

Dr Isaac begins his post saying that it would be better if Jacob Thomas found a new maths teacher. "New lessons will have to be learnt to understand the activities of a socially committed government," he writes in his post that was uploaded a couple of hours after the official's post went live. Isaac said that Thomas's estimate of Rs 700 crore involved just compensation for victims. “But a good part of this has already been provided by the state government,” Isaac said.

“What the government has submitted before the Centre is a comprehensive package for the uplift of the state's entire coastal belt. We have made these recommendations keeping in mind the possibility that such disasters could repeat itself,” Isaac said. “It seems Jacob Thomas has no idea what rehabilitation of such a scale entails. His figures are silent about this,” he added. The state has asked for '3300 crore for housing alone.

“Then there is the need to renovate schools, and hospitals. New coastal roads have to be laid. It is for such a comprehensive package that we have asked for Rs '7300 crore,” Isaac said. As a parting shot, Dr Isaac writes: “If Jacob Thomas had taken the pains to at least read the 40 pages of the state's memorandum, he would not have uttered such inanities.”