The Central Government has come under fire recently for its lack of support to the flood-hit victims in Kerala. Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited the affected state to take a look at the flood situation of the state.
Kerala has been experiencing heavy downpour since early August. Things had gone from bad to worse when the rainfall and the flashflood paralyzed almost the entire state of people’s normal lives. The statewide floods hasn’t been of this level in 90 years led to 147 lives and damage to property.
According to the officials, in the past one week, more than 53,000 people have been moved to 439 relief camps across the state. Around 143,220 people have been living in 1,790 relief camps all through this year’s monsoon, in which the state has received an unusually high amount of rainfall.
PM Modi reached Kerala and then chaired a high-level meeting in a bid to discuss the current situation of the state with Shri Pinarayi Vijayan, the Chief Minister of Kerala, and officials of the State Government.
Post the discussion, Prime Minister announced Rs 500 crore to the flood-hit Kerala which is in addition to Rs. 100 Cr. announced by the Home Minister five days ago. Also, he assured the State Government that relief materials such as foodgrains, medicines etc would be provided, as requested.
PM also announced ex-gratia of Rs. 2 lakh per head to the next kin of the deceased and then Rs. 50,000 to those seriously injured from PM’s National Relief Funds (PMNRF).
“My thoughts are with the families of those who have lost their lives due to incessant flooding across Kerala. I hope the injured recover at the earliest.
We all pray for the safety and wellbeing of the people of Kerala.I salute the people of Kerala for their fighting spirit. I compliment the authorities for their efforts in this adverse situation.
Centre is providing all possible assistance to Kerala. This includes financial assistance, providing food grains and medicines. We have asked the NHAI, NTPC, PGCIL to render all possible assistance and cater to basic infrastructure needs in the wake of the floods.
I would also like to appreciate the wide support and solidarity from people across India towards Kerala during this unprecedented situation. NDRF teams, companies of BSF, CISF and RAF are deployed in the state for rescue and relief operations.
The Air Force, Army, Navy and Coast Guard are assisting operations in different parts of Kerala.
Rescuing those who are trapped remains the topmost priority,” PM Modi wrote in his official Twitter handle.