KOCHI: The Centre has informed the Kerala High Court that, following the landslide disaster in Wayanad, the state government conducted a Post-Disaster Needs Assessment (PDNA) exercise, estimating a requirement of Rs 2,219.033 crore for recovery and reconstruction.
The state’s report was submitted to the Centre only on November 13. The Kerala government’s proposal is currently being evaluated in accordance with the Guidelines for the Constitution and Administration of the Recovery and Reconstruction Funding Window under the National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF) and the State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF).
In a meeting held on November 16, the high-level committee approved an assistance of Rs 153.467 crore from the NDRF, contingent upon adjusting 50% of the balance available in the SDRF account for this specific calamity.
It also approved air bills for airdropping of essential supplies and rescue, as per actual, based on the bills raised by the IAF and the assistance for the clearance of debris, subject to actual utilisation of heavy equipment/machinery for clearing debris from the affected areas within the vicinity of Meppadi grama panchayat.
The Centre further submitted that to assess the loss of immediate nature, before receipt of the formal memorandum from the state government for additional financial assistance from NDRF, an Inter-Ministerial Central Team (IMCT) was constituted on August 2 itself and the IMCT, in consultation with the state government, visited the affected areas for on-the-spot assessment of damages from August 8 to10.
However, the state government submitted its memorandum on August 19 seeking additional assistance of Rs 214.68 crore from the Central government, for providing temporary relief assistance of an immediate nature.
The state government submitted that the Post Disaster Needs Assessment is a recently introduced statutory requirement for sourcing funds from the Recovery and Reconstruction Window of National Disaster Response Fund. The PDNA is a multi-sectoral exercise that contains estimates of the damages, losses, recovery costs, and reconstruction costs with a build-back-better perspective in mind.
LDF to hold statewide protest over centre's 'neglect' on December 5
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The ruling Left front will hold a statewide protest accusing the Union government of deliberate inaction in assisting Wayanad landslide victims, on December 5. The LDF will take out a protest march to the Raj Bhavan at the state capital while protest meetings will be held at district headquarters in other districts.
About 25,000 people are expected to attend the protest march to be taken out to Raj Bhavan from 10.30 am to 1 pm.
The LDF workers will lay siege to the Central government offices at district headquarters. About 10,000 people are expected to assemble at each protest venue, LDF convener T P Ramakrishnan told media on Friday. Responding to the questions over HC’s criticism, Ramakrishnan said the LDF called for hartal as part of a general sentiment in Wayanad.