The Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Saturday demanded the Centre to declare Kerala floods a national disaster.
Rahul Gandhi tweeted, “Dear PM, Please declare #Kerala floods a National Disaster without any delay. The lives, livelihood and future of millions of our people is at stake.”
His statement comes an hour after Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced Rs 500 crore interim relief to the state following a review meeting with Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and Union Minister KJ Alphons. This is in addition to Rs. 100 crore announced by Home Minister Rajnath Singh on August 12.
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Meanwhile, other Congress leaders also demanded more help from the Centre and other states for flood-hit state. Congress leader PC Chacko said that “Thousands of people are marooned and facing a very severe, critical situation and more emergency evacuation operation is needed. What is being done is appreciable but we need more help from the Centre and other states as Kerala is in distress”.
Resonating similar views, Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala reasoned out that the state could get more resources from the Centre if the calamity was declared a national disaster. “Kerala flood is a heart rending sight to see. If the calamity is declared a national disaster, it may help the state to access more resources from the Centre such as defence apparatus for rescue operations, money for rehabilitation works, and more food grains,” Surjewala told.
Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said over 324 people have been killed in the last nine days and over 2 lakh people have been displaced. Till now, 42 Navy, 16 Army, 28 Coast Guard and 39 National Disaster Relief Force teams were engaged in rescue operations. Another 14 NDRF teams are expected to reach shortly.
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