THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Even two months after the Wayanad twin landslides that killed close to 300 people, the Centre has turned a blind eye towards releasing rehabilitation packages. The state government has decided to hold a protest against the apathy being meted out to the landslide survivors, where hundreds of them will be hitting the streets of Kalpetta on Monday.
Two days ago the Centre had approved Rs 675 crore fund to flood-affected areas of Gujarat, Manipur and Tripura. On Tuesday, Rs 5,858.60 crore was sanctioned to 14-flood affected areas by the BJP government. The state government had sought a financial aid of Rs 2,000 crore from the Centre for the Wayanad rehabilitation package under the Disaster Management Act, but to no avail.
CPM district secretary P Gagarin told TNIE that the protest is against the BJP government’s utter disregard to the survivors.
“People in Arunachal Pradesh, which is a smaller state compared to Kerala, would not have faced hardships like the people in Wayanad. But the disregard being shown to the landslide survivors in Wayanad is highly deplorable,” he said.
LDF convener T P Ramakrishnan also did not hide his displeasure against the Centre. He told TNIE that the state government is not against the Centre providing aid to other states. “From day one, the BJP government had dealt a deadly blow under the guise of austerity measures. It has turned a blind eye towards the survivors plight,” he said.
Though the survivors have since shifted to rented homes from relief camps, they are apprehensive about when they would be able to move to their permanent homes. Former Wayanad MP Rahul Gandhi has promised 100 homes to the survivors. KPCC general secretary M Liju told TNIE that they are expected to achieve the target of fund collection where each house would cost Rs 16 lakh.“By disregarding the people of Wayanad, the Centre is actually challenging them. The lone BJP MP from Kerala, Suresh Gopi, has got no right to continue in office,” he said.
However, BJP state president K Surendran was keen on blaming the LDF government for the situation. He told TNIE that the Centre will not sideline the state and the state leadership will render all help to the landslide survivors.
PDNA report to be submitted to centre
The state will submit the Post Disaster Needs Assessment (PDNA) report on the landslide to the National Disaster Management Authority by mid-October. The Kerala State Disaster Management Authority is preparing the report. The PDNA is a comprehensive and scientific assessment of recovery and reconstruction needs on the basis of a thorough analysis of disaster effects and impacts. The report is to get additional assistance, other than the sanction based on the relief memorandum submitted on the landslide.
The Centre is yet to respond to the state’s relief memorandum submitted earlier. According to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, the state could seek only Rs 219 crore through the memorandum which was prepared as per the “narrow guidelines” of the SDRF. The estimated losses at the time of preparing the memorandum was over Rs 1,200 crore. However, as per experts’ view, reconstruction of the disaster-affected area costs at least Rs 2,200 crore, he had said.