Kochi: In response to queries from the Kerala High Court, the Central government revealed that Rs 782.99 crore was available in the State's Disaster Response Fund (SDRF). This amount includes Rs 291.2 crore released by the Union government, reported Live Law.
Following this disclosure, a division bench consisting of Justices AK Jayasankaran Nambiar and Syam Kumar VM directed the state government and the amicus curiae to provide their responses. The Central government revealed this during a hearing of a suo motu case initiated by the court after landslides in Wayanad.
“The statement provides details constitution and administration of national and state disaster response funds, the communications that have been issued by the Deputy Secretary with regard to the usage of those funds, details of flood forecast stations of Central Water Commission, details of monitoring stations and the details of the flood situation as assessed by various authorities in Kerala.
“The statement also mentions the different inputs given by various ministries in response to the suggestions made by amicus through various reports submitted before Court….We, therefore, direct the State government and the amicus curiae to file their responses to the statement filed on behalf of the Central government,” the court said in its order.
According to the Central government's statement, Kerala has been allocated Rs 291.20 crore as its Central share, released in two instalments following the landslide, on July 31 and October 1. The state also received Rs 96.80 crore as its state share for 2024-25 under the SDRF. The Principal Accountant General (A&E) of Kerala reported a remaining balance of Rs 394.99 crore in its SDRF account.
Furthermore, the Central government indicated that the State government has requested an additional Rs 214.68 crore from the National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF) for immediate temporary relief in Wayanad. It was noted that the State can request such additional funding following an assessment by the Inter-Ministerial Central Team (IMCT), which has already evaluated Wayanad. The matter is scheduled for further hearing on October 25.
