Kalpetta: The United Democratic Front (UDF) and the Left Democratic Front (LDF) on Friday announced a hartal in Wayanad on November 19 over the central government's refusal to aid the Mundakkai-Chooralmala landslide disaster victims. Both fronts called for the hartal separately. While the UDF will protest against the central and state governments, the LDF will agitate against the Centre's non-allocation of funds to the landslide victims. Shops and institutions have been called to shut down from 6 am to 6 pm.
The Centre on Thursday reiterated that Kerala had sufficient funds in the State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF) for relief operations after the Wayanad landslide. In response to the letter from KV Thomas, Kerala's special representative in New Delhi, Nityanand Rai, Minister of State for Home Affairs, said that under the existing guidelines of SDRF/NDRF, there was no provision to declare any calamity as 'National Disaster'. Thomas had, on August 2, sent a letter to the Prime Minister requesting the Centre to declare the landslide in Wayanad as a 'National Disaster'.
Nityanand Rai also reiterated the figures in the statement furnished by the Centre in the High Court. The state government was allotted Rs 388 crore (Rs. 291.20 crore central share, Rs 96.80 state share) for 2024-25 under the SDRF. In the aftermath of the tragedy in Wayanad, the central government released both the instalments of the central share of SDRF in advance, amounting to Rs 145.60 crore, each on July 31 and October 1, respectively. In addition, Principal Accountant General (A&E), Kerala, reported a balance of Rs 394.99 crore in its SDRF account as of March 31, 2024. As such, an amount of Rs 782.99 crore (Rs 291.20 crore central share, Rs 96.80 crore state share, Rs 394.99 crore as balance on 31.03.2024) was available in the SDRF account of the state for management of necessary relief measures in the affected areas, according to the Centre.
Rai said in the letter that the primary responsibility of disaster management rests with the state governments. In the event of a 'severe' disaster, additional financial assistance is extended from the National Disaster Response Fund ( NDRF), which includes an assessment based on the visit of an Inter-Ministerial Central Team (IMCT). The minister said that an IMCT was constituted on August 2 to assess the loss of immediate nature without receipt of any formal memorandum from the state government. "The IMCT visited the affected areas of the state from August 8 to 10. Based on the report received from the team, action was taken by the Central government as per the established procedure," the minister said in the letter.
Kerala has requested three things from the Centre: immediate additional relief assistance, the writing off of affected families' loans, and the notification of the Meppadi landslide as a disaster of 'severe nature'.
