The Wayanad landslide should be included in the ‘extreme category’

In spite of the Wayanad Mundakai-Churalmala landslide disaster, the State Disaster Management Authority has told the High Court that apart from the annual allocation to the State Disaster Management Fund, the Center did not provide any additional assistance. The report submitted to the High Court demanded that the loans of the affected people in Wayanad be written off and that the landslide be included in the ‘extreme category’.

When the bench of justices A.K. Jayasankaran Nambiar and V.M. Shyamkumar heard the case last time in connection with the landslides, the Center had announced that it had given financial assistance of Rs.291.2 crore. This is the annual contribution to the Disaster Relief Fund. The Center had also said that the unspent amount of last year’s fund is Rs 782.99 crore. But the state in its reply to the Centre’s affidavit pointed out that it has not denied the matter. The state also stated that the central government did not provide any additional relief assistance in the disaster in which 251 people died and 47 people went missing.

Three demands are mainly placed before the Centre. No decision has been taken on it yet. The first demand is to include the disaster in Wayanad in the ‘extremist category’. In this way, the state government will be able to find funds even from the global level for the reconstruction of the disaster areas. Another was that the National Disaster Mitigation Authority should consider writing off personal loans, car loans and home loans of disaster victims.
The third is that rehabilitation activities can only be implemented if additional relief assistance is provided as soon as possible. It is true that the State Disaster Relief Fund has Rs 782.99 crore. But it is not only to deal with the Wayanad tragedy. Funds of hundreds of crores of rupees are spent every year from this. This fund is not wasted every year. Therefore, it is not unusual to have such an amount in it, but it is permissible. The state has also clarified that the relief work can be implemented only if additional funds are allocated from the National Disaster Relief Fund as soon as possible. 
In the previous report, the Center had said that if additional financial assistance is to be granted, the central team should examine the report based on the PDNA, which Kerala has not submitted.