Thiruvananthapuram. Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said the state government has sought a relief package of Rs 2,000 crore from the Centre for the unprecedented devastation in Wayanad recently and hopes to get ‘good assistance’. Vijayan also rejected the recommendations of the Madhav Gadgil and Kasturirangan committees related to ecologically sensitive areas of the Western Ghats, calling them ‘impractical’. He said (these) committees did not consider social expectations and ground realities in the state.
The chief minister, during an interview with PTI this weekend on the Wayanad landslide, said the state government has decided to build new townships “within a year” for the families of the victims and the survivors to stay safe despite the unprecedented devastation and these houses will be “climate-friendly and sustainable”. Vijayan said when he met Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Delhi recently, the state government had sought a disaster relief package of about Rs 2,000 crore from the Centre. He said the prime minister was “very positive” on the issue and the state expects “good assistance” from the central government. The chief minister said the funds are expected to be released after the central team submits its report to the central government.
Vijayan said classifying the Wayanad landslide as a “national or severe disaster” would allow all MPs to donate Rs 1 crore to the Kerala Relief Fund, otherwise only local MPs would be able to do so. “If this disaster is included in that (national or severe disaster) category, we will get good assistance. This will create a good environment for reconstruction,” he told the news agency. The 89-year-old senior Marxist leader said, “The disaster of July 30 has shaken the lives of our people and has caused unimaginable trauma to the affected people and has made them worried about their future.” Large parts of three villages – Punchirimattam, Choorlamala and Mundakkai – were destroyed in this disaster, apart from some areas of Attamala in Wayanad.
He said, “The recent landslide in Choorlamala village has caused unprecedented devastation. I want to assure that the primary objective of our government is to provide a comprehensive rehabilitation package to the survivors.” He said, “We are committed to provide the best possible rehabilitation package to the survivors with our people-centric approach, in line with Kerala’s development model.” Vijayan said during an all-party meeting recently that the survivors will be housed in one or two townships, which will have single-storey houses of about 1,000 square feet in size, with an option to expand to two storeys in future.
He said, “Our priority is to ensure that the families who lost their homes in the landslide have a safe and secure place to live.” “The construction of these townships is expected to be completed within a year,” Vijayan told PTI. On the recommendations made by the Madhav Gadgil and Kasturirangan committees to handle the fragile and ecologically sensitive areas of the Western Ghats, Vijayan said the bodies that constituted the committees themselves had not fully accepted these reports.
He said this highlights the fact that “most of the recommendations in these reports were not practical and did not take into account social aspirations and ground realities”. The state government has identified five plots of land measuring about 50 hectares for township projects and the chief minister said they are investing “substantial” money for the project, including support from businesses and philanthropic organisations. He said as of now, a post-disaster needs assessment is underway in Wayanad. “This will give us more information about the changes we may have to bring in,” Vijayan said.