Kerala Flood Relief: Close to 7 Lakh Persons Have Received Financial Aid, Says CM

New Delhi: Months after Kerala was hit by deadly floods that made global headlines, the state is successfully getting back on its feet with effective utilisation of relief funds and strategic plans, according to the Left Democratic Front (LDF) government.

“Compensation distribution for the flood-affected is going on”, the Kerala Assembly was informed by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Monday during the ongoing Budget session.

As many as 6,87,843 people have received immediate financial assistance of Rs 10,000, said the Chief Minister said in reply to the questions by opposition MLAs over the progress of “Rebuild Kerala” activities.

A total of 1,05,838 relief kit had also been distributed for the affected families from October to December. For these alone, the government had spent Rs 52,00,054. People who had returned from relief camps to their own settlements were also provided the relief kit. Each kit includes essentials, including food items like rice, sugar, pulses and oil.

Rs 21.71 crore had been distributed for the dairy farmers those who have lost their cattle and poultry, the House was informed. About 2,38,376 farmers received financial assistance of Rs 69.10 crore from the distress relief fund. Apart from this, 2,24,210 farmers had received a total of Rs 110 crore from the budget fund.

Read More: Kerala Needs Rs 31,000 Crore Post Floods: UN Report

As per the updated data, there are 13,362 completely damaged houses. Out of these 9,431 families have received the first part of the financial assistance from the government and the construction works have also been started. Rest of the houses will be built with the support of Care Home and Co-operative societies, Vijayan said.

The houses that were damaged partially have been classified into four categories. The financial aid distribution to rebuild these houses is based on the magnitude of damage. The families that are included in the first two categories have got the aid from the government. The rest of the families have received the first part of the fund. About, 1,21,265 families have got support from the government to rebuild their partially damaged houses and construction work is expected to be completed by February 15.

“A total of 54,792 appeals and complaints have been received and government will consider and resolve those on time,” said the CM, adding that the state government had allocated more funds for rebuilding work than the prescribed standards of the Central government.

Apart from this, by distributing 60,996 new cards under the MGNREGA programme, 4.93 crore days of labour days have been ensured, Rs 559.19 lakh has also been distributed. The government also took the initiative to give interest-free loans worth Rs 732.46 crore for 94,891 people through the Kudumbasree programme.

Read More: Kerala Floods: Lies, Dam Lies & Statistics

In October last year, the Post Disaster Needs Assessment (PDNA) report presented by the United Nations had said that the state would need about Rs 31,000 crore for recovery and reconstruction following floods.

As per the report, the highest amount would be needed for the reconstruction of roads and transportation (Rs 10,046 crore), followed by housing (Rs 5,443 crore), agriculture, fisheries and livestock (Rs 4,498 crore), employment and livelihood (Rs 3,896 crore), other infrastructure (Rs 2,446 crore), irrigation (Rs 1,483 crore) and water and sanitation (Rs 1,331 crore).

As many as 12 of the 14 districts were worst affected by the century’s worst floods in which more than 480 people lost their lives, 221 bridges were damaged and more than 10,000 km of roads were ruined. It was also estimated that more than three lakh farmers had been affected and even cases of suicides had been reported from the state shortly after the floods. Life, however, has bounced back to a normal level with the strategic intervention of the government, political parties and other organisations.

Read More: Kerala Floods: From Rescue Efforts to Relief and Renewal Work