Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan slams Centre's delay in granting assistance to disaster-affected Wayanad
Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan hits out at Centre for delaying assistance to the landslide hit Wayanad. Hundred days have passed since Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited the disaster-affected Chooralmala, Mundakai and Punjarimattom villages which were washed away in the devastating landslides on July 30 killing nearly 400 persons.
While the Centre has helped liberally other states which faced natural disasters, in the case of Kerala the union government has ignored the genuine demands of the state, the chief minister said here on Monday .
Pinarayi urged the Centre to end the neglect of the state and release financial assistance for the rehabilitation of affected people and rebuilding of disaster-hit areas of Wayanad.
Regarding Amit Shah's recent claim that Kerala failed to provide the necessary memorandum and assessment report, Pinarayi stated that this was not the first instance of the Union Home Minister misleading Parliament and the public about the Wayanad situation. Previously, he had attempted to mislead Parliament by citing a non-existent weather report.
"The Centre had issued a clear warning about landslides, so what action did Kerala take?" Amit Shah questioned in Parliament.
The state promptly provided evidence to the contrary, showing that no such warning was issued. Kerala had requested an initial sum of Rs 1,202 crore for relief efforts, which included both anticipated and additional expenses.
The Chief Minister noted that over 100 days have passed since the Prime Minister's visit and more than three months since the submission of the memorandum, with the central team's visit now months behind. In the interim, other states have received assistance without formal requests, yet Kerala has not seen a single rupee of special financial aid.
Furthermore, he mentioned that a Post-Disaster Needs Assessment (PDNA) was carried out, with a comprehensive report submitted to the central government on November 13.
Pinarayi highlighted that the PDNA was not acknowledged as an official document for financial aid during the Prime Minister's visit. Kerala submitted its preliminary PDNA following the implementation of the Recovery and Reconstruction Guideline on August 14, 2024, completing the process in a significantly shorter period than the mandated three months.
The study report was compiled by a team including NDMA members representing the Central Government, KSDMA representatives, and other experts from the Government of Kerala. Kerala's primary concern is the non-sanctioning of emergency assistance as per the submitted memorandum.
Conversely, the Centre contends that Kerala's PDNA filing was delayed. Kerala is now seeking reconstruction funds through PDNA.
Despite the lesser severity of natural disasters in Tripura, Telangana, and Uttarakhand compared to Wayanad, central assistance was promptly provided. Should the central government categorize the Chooralmala-Mundakkai landslide as a severe disaster (L3 category), Members of Parliament nationwide could utilize up to Rs 1 crore from the MP LAD fund for aiding the affected regions.
The central government's stance appears to be a reluctance to declare special financial aid, seemingly neglecting Wayanad and the disaster victims.
The Chief Minister has appealed to the Central Government, urging them to abandon this stance and immediately provide financial assistance for relief and swift rehabilitation of the Mundakkai-Chooralmala area's affected populace.