Amidst row over 'national disaster' tag for Wayanad landslide, Centre tells Kerala High Court assistance to be announced this month

Thiruvananthapuram: Amidst a row over Centre's delay in extending financial assistance for relief and rehabilitation of Wayanad landslide survivors, the Centre has informed the Kerala High Court that a decision on Centre's assistance will be conveyed during this month itself.

A letter given by the Centre to the Kerala government's special representative in Delhi, former union minister K V Thomas, stating that there was no provision to declare the Wayanad landslide that claimed over 300 lives as a 'national disaster' has triggered the fresh row.

A bench of the Kerala HC, which has been considering a case pertaining to the landslide relief, observed on Friday that it could not be conclusively interpreted from the letter that the Centre would not extend any assistance.

While Kerala revenue minister K Rajan accused the Centre of deliberately neglecting the state, Congress state president K Sudhakaran asked if the BJP government was showing neglect towards Wayanad owing to the connection of Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi with Wayanad. 

Letter misinterpreted?

Meanwhile, sources point out that the Centre's letter on declaring the landslides as 'national disaster' was being misinterpreted.

According to sources, the National Disaster Management Guidelines classified disasters as Level one to three on the basis of the severity. Hence the centre informed the state that there was no provision to declare the Wayanad landslide as 'national disaster'. The letter also stated that based on the reports of the Inter-Ministerial Central Team that visited the landslide affected areas the Centre was taking further actions as per the procedure.

Thomas told DH that the Centre's undue delay in announcing the assistance to Wayanad landslide relief could not be justified, especially, since it has already announced assistance to some other states that suffered calamities of less intensity after the Wayanad landslides.