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Kerala announces township project for landslide-hit Wayanad amid tussle over Centre aid
Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan said the declaration of the disaster as a “severe nature” was not indicated in the Centre's communication to the state.
The Kerala government on Wednesday approved a comprehensive rehabilitation project for landslide ravaged Wayanad district amid tussle with the Centre over the alleged lack of financial assistance.
The project proposed to set up two townships to provide a safe and sustainable living environment for the survivors of the disaster that killed over 200 people in July and washed away many villages.
Chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan said the two proposed townships in plantation estates of Kalpetta and Kottappady will have all basic amenities, PTI reported.
The project also aims to provide houses, schools, health centres, anganwadis, markets, parking areas, playgrounds, drinking water and sanitation facilities, etc.
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The chief minister said the government will ensure that rehabilitation measures also comprise livelihood opportunities in sectors like agriculture, animal husbandry, and micro-entrepreneurship among others to help survivors move on with their lives.
Vijayan said the state government would complete the project in a time-bound manner. All those willing to lend a helping hand will be made part of the project and their assistance would be coordinated with the government's measures, he added.
The CPI(M) veteran also indicated difficulty in finding suitable land for the project so that all survivors could inhabit a single place. Vijayan added that the proposed land was decided to be taken over as per the provisions of the Disaster Management Act 2005.
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According to the difference in land value and price, a family being rehabilitated in Elstone and Nedumbala estates would get five and 10 cents each respectively.
Post resettlement, the chief minister assured that affected families will continue to retain ownership the land they own in affected areas. Those survivors who would like to stay outside the township would be given ₹15 lakh each, he added.
Vijayan said the final list of landslide-affected families would be released by January 25.
Uralunkal Labour Contract Society has been chosen as the contractor to implement the project, which would be overseen by a chief minister-headed panel.
On Centre's declaration
Vijayan said the declaration of the landslide as a “calamity of a severe nature” was not indicated in the Centre's communication regarding financial assistance to the state, loan waiver for disaster victims or relaxation of norms for the disbursement of funds from the State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF).
The chief minister claimed that delay in the Centre's declaration by more than two months post-disaster led to loss of additional social assistance from United Nations institutions and NGOs. “That opportunity has been lost through this delay. But, we will continue to try. The government will use all these opportunities effectively,” he said.
Despite being among the 122 “aspirational villages” in the country, the Centre is yet to take the “basic and humanistic step” to write off the debts of disaster-hit people there, he alleged.
(With PTI inputs)
