With the State government getting ready to celebrate its 1,000 days in power, Leader of the Opposition Ramesh Chennithala has sought to bring the spotlight back to its “dismal” record on flood relief and rehabilitation on the strength of his recent visits to seven affected taluks.
Mr. Chennithala, at a press conference here on Friday, contested Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan’s tall claims that rehabilitation work was going on smoothly. But from his visits to the affected taluks, it was clear that the flood victims were yet to get the promised compensation.
He had visited the taluks of Chengannur, Karthikapally, Aluva, Paravur, Ranni, Aranmula and Idukki and met the victims. He had received over 9,000 complaints that were sent to the respective District Collectors for further action.
He said the Chief Minister was prompt in doling out promises and holding debates on reconstruction of the State, but nothing concrete had been done in terms of rehabilitation and reconstruction five months after the big floods wrecked the state. The Chief Minister’s statement about creating a new Kerala remained a pipe-dream, with not even a stone being laid for reconstruction.
Mr. Chennithala listed out nine points that attested to the failure of the State government. He had received 4,000 petitions from the victims that they had not received the promised ₹10,000 for beginning life soon after the floods. In several places, the aid was given on the basis of political affiliation. Some panchayats were totally ignored and aid was given on the strength of the certification by local CPI(M) leaders. Several UDF ruled local bodies were deliberately bypassed in distribution of relief.
The mobile application Rebuild Kerala to identify totally and partially damaged houses was a big failure mainly because the government adopted unscientific methods to collect information, leading to uploading of false information or faulty classification. Even today, people were living in relief camps in Idukki and Paravur, Mr. Chennithala said.
The government had also failed to remove the silt and clean wells to prevent drinking water issues. Small traders were promised ₹10 lakh as loan, but this too did not materialise. To add salt to their wounds, the government had now slapped notices on them to cough up GST on the goods that were lost during the floods. Households were promised interest-free loans to the extent of ₹1 lakh, but they were forced to pay 9% interest. Many families were being pushed into the grasp of money lenders, he added.
