A battered Kerala began picking up the pieces on Monday as the rain abated and water began receding from flood-affected areas even as the Central government said the situation in the State had been categorised as an L3 level disaster under the National Disaster Management Guidelines. (L3 is the highest disaster categorisation by scale and population of the devastated area. )
The State government has convened an all-party meeting on Tuesday to discuss the flood havoc . Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said the rescue operations would continue till the last of the marooned victims were brought to safety.
Death toll 223
As many as six deaths were reported in the State on Monday, taking the toll since August 8 to 223. A total of 10,28,073 people, including 1,01,049 children, were housed in 3,274 relief camps . Road, rail and air traffic were partially restored.
Efforts were on to resume communication services and power and water supply. Distribution of relief material was stepped up, even as people began returning to their houses. Local collectives were constituted to help residents clean up their houses and disinfect water sources. Medical teams began fanning out across the districts.
Domestic flights from Kochi began from the naval air base on Monday with carriers using small aircraft. A medical team began an arduous trek to Palakkad’s Nelliyampathy hill station, which was cut off by landslips.
Responding to a public interest petition in the High Court, Assistant Solicitor General N. Nagaresh said there was no provision in the statute or manuals to declare a disaster as ‘National Calamity.’ He however said the Centre considered the flood situation in Kerala as a disaster of serious nature.
The Union Ministry of Health airlifted 52 metric tonnes of emergency medicines to Kerala. Another 20 MT would reach the state tonight, the National Crisis Management Committee which met in New Delhi was informed. A consignment of bleaching powder and chlorine tablets would be despatched on Tuesday and 12 medical teams were put on standby.
The Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas said it had sanctioned 12000 KL of kerosene for Kerala and made arrangements for distribution of LPG cylinders.
The Chief Minister said volunteers had been enlisted to clean up damaged houses. Electrical and plumbing jobs would be done free of cost and hospitals supplied with anti venom to deal with snake bites.
Mr.Vijayan said the state would require almost as much as the annual Plan outlay of ₹37248 cr for reconstruction of infrastructure damaged by the floods. He said the Central Government was expected to provide assistance to help the state tide over the crisis.
Revenue Minister E.Chandrasekharan said all flood victims would be compensated for losses based on reports and verification by revenue authorities.
The State Level Bankers Committee which met here on monday announced a moratorium on repayment of interest on crop loans for a period of one year. Based on a request from Agriculture Minister V S Sunil Kumar, the committee also resolved to restructure the repayment of the loan amount over a period of five years.
Nationalised banks, cooperative banks, small finance banks and scheduled banks have also agreed not to invoke the SARFAESI ACT to attach properties for default on crop loan availed by farmers. according to government estimates, crops in 46,000 hectares have been destroyed by the floods causing a loss of ₹1050 cr for 280,450 farmers.
