Kerala gets 3,048 crores additional assistance

NP NEWS 24 ONLINE – Termed as worst flood in the century, Kerala faced heavy flood this monsoon killing 488 people affecting 14 districts of the state. Kerala government have sought 4,700 crores as a compensation from the central government for the damaged caused by the flood.

However, the central government have announced to clear the grant of 3,048 for the massive flood as an as an additional assistance from the National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF).

A high level committee headed by Home Minister, Rajnath Singh had a meeting to consider the additional central assistance given to Kerala, Nagaland and Andhra Pradesh where they approved of allocating 3048.39 crores to Kerala, Rs 131.16 crore to Nagaland and Rs 539.52 crore to Andhra Pradesh.

An official quoted that, “In case of any natural calamity beyond the coping capacity of a state, the state government submits a detailed memorandum indicating sector-wise details of damage and requirement of funds for relief operations of immediate nature.”

“The financial mechanism to meet the rescue and relief expenditure during any notified disaster event is governed by guidelines pertaining to the NDRF and the State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF),” Official added.

The meeting included Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh, Union Home Secretary Rajiv Gauba and senior officers of the Ministries of Home Affairs, Finance and Agriculture.

On the other hand, Post Disaster Need Assessment (PDA) report of the United Nations (UN) stated that Kerala’s low flood storage capacity in reservoirs and poor drainage capacity of canals and sea outlets as the major reasons for the severity of floods, apart from heavy rains.

The earlier draft presented by PDNA mentioned the rebuild cost at over Rs 27,000 crore in the next five years, the 427-page comprehensive report mentioned in detail the reasons that caused floods, in the chapter ‘Flood Diagnostics.’