NEW DELHI: The centre will soon send a team to Kerala to do the physical and financial assessment of the devastation caused by the recent flood in the state to decide on the future grant for the reconstruction of infrastructure.
According to the sources in the Finance Ministry, the team will visit the state in the first week of September.
“The government will constitute a joint team which will have officials from both Home Ministry and Finance Ministry and independent auditors. The team is likely to visit in the first week of September and will do the financial assessment of the loss of the physical and social infrastructure,” a senior official from the Ministry of Finance told TNIE.
The Centre attracted lots of criticism for not being generous with grants for the Kerala floods.
Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan had requested an immediate assistance of Rs 2,000 crore from the Centre. In a meeting convened to assess the flood situation in the state, CM Vijayan had informed PM Modi that the state has suffered a loss of Rs 19,512 crore as per initial assessment.
The centre rather offered the aid of Rs.500 crore. However later on then Interim Finance Minister Piyush Goyal had added that this is just an initial aid and said that the final grant will be given after the assessment done by the Centre.
“The grant released so far is the initial grant. This is for the basis amenities. The government will do its own assessment of the losses. Also the centre had requested Kerala government to submit report on the cost to rebuild infrastructure we are still awaiting that report. Based on these two reports we will decide on the quantum of aid,” the official added.
So far according to the Kerala government, the Chief Minister’s Distress Relief Fund (CMDRF) has received a total amount of Rs 730 crore rupees as of Wednesday, August 29.