Centre has assured all help to Kerala to meet the challenges posed by unprecedented floods in the state. Talking to reporters at the Kochi airport after conducting aerial survey of Idukki and Ernakulam districts, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh described the flood situation in the State as very serious. Mr Singh said, the Centre fully stands behind the people of Kerala in this need of hour. He was accompanied by State Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, Union Tourism Minister Alphons Kannanthanam and Revenue Minister E. Chandrasekharan in the aerial survey of the flood affected areas.
Later in a series of tweets, the Home Minister said, Centre is closely monitoring the flood situation in Kerala and providing all possible assistance to the state. Mr Singh announced immediate relief of 100 crores rupees since assessment of damages will take some time. He said, the first instalment of 80.25 crore rupees of the Central share of State Disaster Response Fund , SDRF for 2018-19 was released last month only. He informed that in order to supplement the efforts of the state government, he has approved the release the second instalment of 80.25 crore rupees in advance for the SDRF.
The Minister said, three teams of NDRF were pre positioned in Kerala during the current Monsoon season. He informed that eleven more NDRF teams have been deployed in the state taking the total number of NDRF teams to 14.
Mr Singh appealed to all political parties, social and cultural organisations to join hands with the state government in mitigating the sufferings of the people of Kerala.
37 people have lost their lives so far in floods and rain related incidents in different parts of the state. According to the latest official figures, more than 60 thousand affected people, have been lodged in various relief camps across 14 districts of the southern state.
