Kerala govt failed to utilise central funds for Wayanad rehabilitation: Javadekar

Thiruvananthapuram: Senior BJP leader and Union Minister Prakash Javadekar slammed the Kerala government for failing to utilise the central funds from the State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF) and the National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF) for rehabilitation after the Wayanad landslides.

"The Pinarayi government is sitting on available funds and blames the Centre," said senior BJP leader and Union Minister Prakash Javadekar in a post on X. He added that the Centre has allocated over Rs 500 crore for this purpose through SDRF, which already has a balance of approximately Rs 700 crore.

"The state has failed to utilise the Rs 700 crore in the calamity fund. People the world over have donated to the CM Relief fund. This is also not used. This is the hypocrisy of LDF and UDF, and their fake propaganda has been exposed," Javadekar said.

Referring to the recent criticism by the High Court against the state government and its disaster management authority (SDMA) over the Wayanad rehabilitation, he said the falsehood of the ruling LDF and the opposition UDF were exposed in the court.

However, the state government reiterated its demand for a special package and additional assistance to address the issues there.

Whatever amount is in the SDRF, spending restrictions exist due to the existing criteria, so the specific issues of landslide-hit areas cannot be resolved with it, state Revenue Minister K Rajan has said.