Thiruvananthapuram: State government employees in Kerala have informed Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan that they are willing to contribute five days’ salary to help people affected by the recent landslides in Wayanad district.

During a meeting with the CM, office-bearers of employees’ organisations said that contributions from salary should not be made mandatory and requested Pinarayi Vijayan to facilitate payment of the contributions in five instalments. It was also decided at the meeting not to conduct a ‘salary challenge’.

Incidentally, it was the CM who summoned the employees for a discussion on the matter. The representatives of employees also told Vijayan that some employees were willing to donate five days’ salary as a single payment, while others would contribute more than five days’ salary.

Meanwhile, the official death toll in the tragedy rose to 227 on Monday, with five more bodies recovered from the Mundakkai-Chooralmala area and one from the Chaliyar River. Two body parts were also found in the Chaliyar.

The authorities buried 27 unidentified bodies and 154 body parts at Harrison’s plantation land in Puthamala on Monday amid all-religious prayers. There are plans to convert this plot into a memorial to the victims of the tragedy, said authorities.