Media ‘wrongly portrayed’ cost estimates of relief for Wayanad landslides: CM
The state government in an affidavit filed before the Kerala high court in a suo moto case into the causes and impact of the July 30 Wayanad landslides
Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Monday said that certain sections of the media had “wrongly portrayed” the cost estimates of relief and rescue operations in the Wayanad landslide in a memorandum submitted to the Centre as actual money spent on the ground.
The state government in an affidavit filed before the Kerala high court in a suo moto case into the causes and impact of the July 30 Wayanad landslides had listed various figures of money assessed as part of relief and rescue operations.
A statement issued by the chief minister’s office (CMO) stated: “The state government had submitted a memorandum to the central government seeking immediate additional assistance in the disaster. It specifies the preliminary estimates of expenditure required for various subjects.”
“But the media is claiming those figures as actual money spent in the disaster area. This is untrue. This misrepresents the requirements of the memorandum prepared in accordance with the NDRF norms,” the CMO said.
The CMO further stated the wrongful depiction of the memo details would undermine the state’s efforts to get central aid for Wayanad.
The cost assessment was mentioned in a high court order by a bench of justices AK Jayasankaran Nambiar and Syam Kumar VM on September 6 and accessed by HT. It included ex-gratia of ₹14.36 crore for over 230 people killed in the tragedy, ₹5.42 crore as a form of livelihood assistance for over 4,000 people living in relief camps, ₹4 crore for transportation of volunteers, ₹11 crore as overhead for clothes for those in relief camps, ₹8 crore for food at relief camps, ₹2.76 crore for the burial of 359 bodies and body parts and ₹1 crore for the construction of the bailey bridge at the landslide site.
Read more: Toughest 30 days of my life: Man who lost his daughter in Wayanad landslides
The aid expected from the Centre by the state also includes damages to agriculture, animal husbandry sector, handicrafts, reconstruction of houses, roads and bridges, schools, drinking water schemes, power facilities, health centres and community assets.
The memorandum of the state demanded an overall aid of ₹1,202 crore as per norms of the National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF).
Meanwhile, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) state president K Surendran said that the state government was claiming inflated expenses as relief for Wayanad to promote corruption.
“The state claims expenses for transport and food of volunteers. Which volunteers? Those of BJP, Seva Bharati, Congress and IUML did not drink even a cup of tea under government expense. The state must explain if these expenses are for volunteers of DYFI or officers who get government salaries,” he said in a post on Facebook. DYFI is the youth outfit of the CPI(M)-led state government.
Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) general secretary PK Kunhalikutty said the state was mocking volunteers who took money from their own pockets to assist the administration in relief operations in Wayanad.
He said members of volunteer organisations like “White Guard” affiliated to IUML had disposed dead bodies and body parts of landslide victims with utmost respect without claiming a single penny from the government as wage.
“Despite this we learn that the government has claimed a huge amount of money was spent in this regard. Is the government taking advantage of the service and reliability of those who stood with the victims of the landslide? In that case, it’s an unforgivable mistake,” he wrote on Facebook.