This amounts to denying Kerala’s request to declare the Wayanad landslides as a “national calamity”. Incidentally, Union Minister of State for Home Affairs, Nityanand Rai, in his reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha on November 27, conceded that the Wayanad tragedy was "of a severe nature”, but was silent on granting special assistance!

This was nothing but an open display of political hostility to Kerala, which has been successfully resisting the ruling BJP’s bid to expand its footprint in Kerala. Rai would have us believe that there was no provision in the State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF), and in the National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF) guidelines, to declare any natural calamity as a “national calamity”.

The letter, which does not mention any financial assistance, says that in the event of a disaster of a severe nature, financial assistance towards notified disasters is met from the SDRF “already placed at their disposal, which is further supplemented from the NDRF in accordance with established procedure”.

The Union Government has so far ignored the criticism of even the Kerala High Court on the Centre's callous response to the State’s plea for special aid. Even the latest suggestion by the HC to exclude around Rs 120 crore of the Rs 132 crore that it had sought as the expense for rescue operations that were carried out in Kerala by the Indian Air Force(IAF) since 2006.

The court’s suggestion was that this amount could be utilized to rehabilitate victims of the July 30 Wayanad disaster. The Court further asked whether the norms that are binding on NDRF and SDRF can be relaxed so that the amount could be used for their rehabilitation. In a direct criticism of the Union government’s hostile attitude, the court termed as a ‘psychological move’ the Union Government sending the Rs 132 crore airlift expense bill soon after the State sought financial assistance for rehabilitation in Wayanad.

“It is for a noble cause, so the Central Government should not have a problem,” the court while listing the matter on January 10, 2025, to await the Union Government’s response on the issue. What is shocking is that a major portion – more than Rs 100 crore – of the outstanding bills is for the rescue operations undertaken during the 2018 floods which devastated the State. The bill also includes over Rs 13 crore for the IAF operations following the landslides that wiped away three villages in Wayanad district on July 30 last year.

The court’s directions came while it was hearing a plea initiated by it for the prevention and management of natural disasters in the State in the wake of the Wayanad disaster of July 30, which claimed over 400 lives.

Meanwhile, a special Cabinet meeting chaired by Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has decided to focus on expediting the rehabilitation of families displaced by the killer landslides.

A draft rehabilitation plan presented by Chief Secretary Sarada Muraleedharan includes proposals from the Kerala Infrastructure Investment Fund Board (KIIFB) for the construction of 1,000 square-foot single-storey houses for the survivors from Mundakkai and Chooralmala, which bore the brunt of the landslides in July.

The plan will prioritise, in the initial phase, those who lost their houses. The State Government is also planning to call a meeting, chaired by the Chief Minister, with the benefactors and organisations which have offered to support the rebuilding efforts. Also, a panel will oversee the development of the proposed townships, and land acquisition processes will be speeded up so that construction can begin at the earliest.

The special Cabinet meeting was held in the wake of the release of the first draft list of 388 beneficiaries by the Wayanad district administration. It may be mentioned that the purported exclusion of affected families and the duplication of names had touched off a wave of protests, including sit-ins staged by the survivors at Meppadi in Wayanad. (IPA Service)