Kerala seeks Rs 562.58 crore from NCCF for flood relief

Kochi, Aug 3 (UNI) The Kerala Government today sought Central assistance to the tune of Rs 562.58 crore from the National Calamity Contingency Fund to provide relief to the victims of the devastating floods in the State in the past two months.

Briefing reporters after a meeting with the Central team, which arrived here today to review the flood situation in Kerala, State Revenue Minister K P Rajendran said the floods had caused losses amounting to Rs 1,431 crore.

Besides Mr Rajendran, Finance Minister T M Thomas Issac, Forest Minister Binoy Viswam and PWD Minister T U Kuruvilla represented the State in the meeting with the ten-member Central team, headed by Union Home Joint Secretary S K Chattopadhyay.

Mr Chattopadhyay said the team would recommend fund allocation, based on Central norms. The Centre had so far sanctioned Rs 70.70 crore from the Central Relief Fund for Kerala.

Mr Rajendran said the Kerala Government had yesterday passed an order, enhancing the compensation to be paid in case of death and destruction caused by floods. The earlier compensation of Rs 15,000 in case of the death of a child and Rs 50,000 for the death of an adult had been uniformly increased to Rs one lakh. Besides, the compensation for fully damaged houses was raised from Rs 15,000 to Rs 25,000 and for partially damaged houses from Rs 5,000 to Rs 10,000.

The enhanced compensation would be effective for incidents after June 27 this year, when a Central order for this was passed.

The Central team would visit all 14 districts of Kerala from August four to six and meet Chief Minister V S Achuthanandan on August seven before returning to New Delhi.

Mr Rajendran said the State Government had disbursed Rs ten crore to the District Collectors for payment to ration shops towards free supply of rations to the flood victims. A sum of Rs 25 crore was needed for free supply of rations for four weeks, he added.

UNI