Kerala Floods: Centre Approves Rs 2,500 Cr Fund; Asks State To Pay Rs 33 Cr For Rescue Ops By IAF

The Centre has approved for an additional Rs 2,500 crore for towards the rehabilitation work. Notably, this is part of the Rs 3,100 crore sanctioned earlier, of which, Rs 600 crore had been released during the flood in August. The Kerala government, in September, had presented to the centre, a requirement of Rs 4,800 for relief work. In the memorandum seeking funds, the Kerala government had given details of losses.

However, the state government has to pay an amount of over Rs 33 crores to the Indian Air Force for availing services like choppers for airlifting during Kerala flood relief operations in August 2018, as reported by The News Minute. The hefty amount has to be paid to the Controller of Defence Accounts. After this, CM Pinarayi Vijayan reportedly urged the Centre to expedite the aid assistance to Kerala.

Kerala has to pay bills

Reportedly, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan told the media persons on Thursday, November 29 that the Government has received a bill for Rs 33,79,77,250 from the Air Force Headquarters in Delhi. He added that the price of free ration worth Rs 290.74 crore is likely to be deducted from the Rs 600 crore aid that was given to Kerala by the centre in August, as reported by The Times of India.

Over three months after the disaster, the Centre has finally approved an additional Rs 2,500 crore to Kerala for the relief and rehabilitation work. The Kerala floods, which left around 370 people dead and thousands homeless, also racked up an estimated loss to the tune of Rs 31,000 crores.

“We, in the recent past, have also written to the central government, stating that we were expecting the ration including the extra quota of rice and kerosene as free of charge, given as assistance during the floods. But we’ve not received any response to even that,” Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan told the media, according to NDTV.

However, the CM said that the state government has to pay for the bills from that amount itself. The CM said that the state has received much less financial assistance than what they should have received from the Centre.

The Times Of India reported that as on November 27, CMDRF has received Rs 2683.18 crore, out of which, Rs 688.48 crore has been spent while the government is expecting another expenditure of Rs 1,357.78 crore from the same fund.

Reportedly, the chief minister has written to Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh asking for a high-level meeting on natural disasters soon.

Also Read: Kerala Floods: Mankind Puts Best Foot Forward, Help Pours In At The Time Of Crisis