Free ration for two weeks will be supplied to families whose houses have been flooded in the incessant rains, even if they are not moved to flood relief camps, Revenue Minister Adoor Prakash has said.
The Minister was reviewing the flood situation and relief measures initiated by the district administration at a meeting of various departmental heads held at the Collectorate conference hall here on Saturday.
Monetary relief
According to him, the affected families who had been shifted to various flood relief camps in the district would be provided with a ‘pocket money’ of Rs.2,000, besides free ration for two weeks.
He said the Upper Kuttanad region was badly affected with flood and, so far, 18 families were shifted to two relief camps opened at Peringara and Kaviyur. Fibre boats and country boats would be provided for transport of people who were stranded in islands like Kakkathuruthu in Upper Kuttanad.
Mr. Prakash said steps would be taken to provide cooking gas to various flood relief camps. Service of doctors and paramedical staff, attached to various private hospitals, too, would be sought to provide medical care to people in the flood-affected areas, he said.
‘Dry day’ to be observed
The Minister said the district administration would observe Sunday as ‘dry day’ as part of the vector control drive to check spreading of vector-borne diseases in the district. He called upon the local self-government institutions (LSGIs) to ensure effective utilisation of the fund allotted for the ward-level sanitation work in each panchayat and municipality.
He said the government would provide financial aid worth Rs.1 lakh each to those people whose houses were completely destroyed in the flood, rain, wind or any such monsoon-related natural calamity. Monetary relief worth Rs.35,000 would be provided towards compensation on every partially damaged house, he said.
Relief worth Rs.1 lakh would be provided to the family in the case of the death of the head of a family in the flood and Rs.1.5 lakh in the case of other flood-related human casualties. This was besides the assistance worth Rs.10,000 for funeral expenses, he said.
The Minister also directed the Kerala State Electricity Board authorities in the district to take necessary steps to avoid power supply disruptions.
Compensation
Addressing the meeting, Mathew T. Thomas, MLA, stressed the need to provide adequate compensation to the farmers who lost their crop in the flood-hit villages of Peringara and Niranom. Mr. Thomas said the Kerala Water Authority should take extra care to avoid disruption in the drinking water supply to different parts of Thiruvalla.
The Minister distributed equipment worth Rs.9,61,652 for disaster management to the Fire and Rescue Force, Police, and the Agriculture department on the occasion.
Pranab Jyotinath, District Collector; H. Salimraj, Additional District Magistrate; A. Gopakumar, Revenue Divisional Officer, Thiruvalla; Hari S. Nair, Adoor RDO; A. Sureshkumar, Pathanamthitta municipal chairman; Oommen Thomas, Adoor municipal chairman, and Delsie Sam, Thiruvalla municipal chairperson, attended the meeting.
