Ker Govt announces immediate aid of Rs 10K/ calamity-hit families

Thiruvananthapuram: The Kerala government on Wednesday announced a flood relief package with an immediate financial aid of up to Rs 10,000 each for all calamity-hit families which had suffered losses in the torrential rains.

A sum of Rs 4 lakh would be given to those whose houses had been fully damaged or had become uninhabitable and Rs 10 lakh to those who had lost their houses as well as land in the rain fury and landslides, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan told reporters after the weekly cabinet meeting.

On the basis of the intensity of the catastrophe and gravity of the losses, a notification would be issued soon declaring the respective villages as “calamity-hit.”

Those families, in whose houses flood waters had entered, those who had stayed in houses which had been damaged partially or completely and those who had shifted to givernment recognised relief camps after being alerted by authorities would be considered “flood-hit families,” he said.

“This time, the landslides, reported in about 64 places, had led to the increase in the death toll. An immediate financial aid up to Rs 10,000 will be given from the State Disaster Response Fund to the calamity-hit families as per the State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF) criteria.

Compensation would be given to the families of those who were killed in the natural calamity,” he said.

Compensation would alsobe given for the crop loss, repair and rebuild of damaged roads and buildings and for the maintenance of drinking water and irrigation projects.

Besides the families in the flood-hit areas, fishermen in the coastal belt would be given 35 kg free rice.

As per government figures,95 people have died in floods and landslides in the state since August 8.

This is the second consecutive year that the state has been hit by the rain fury which had claimed over 400 lives and displaced lakhs of people last year.