Kerala govt. slammed for ‘derailing’ rehabilitation project for Chooralmala landslide survivors
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) State president K. Surendran has slammed the State government for its alleged apathy towards the survivors of the Chooralmala landslides, saying that temporary rehabilitation project had derailed owing to poor coordination on the part of the government.
Addressing the media here on August 22 (Thursday), Mr. Surendran expressed outrage over the government’s handling of relief efforts, saying that they were “inefficient and inadequate”. He came down on the government for its alleged delayed response, which had resulted in further distress to the affected people.
The BJP leader alleged that the government and the Legislative sub-committee, which had shown interest initially, were now behaving indifferently to the survivors. He pointed out that all sub-committee members, except Tribal Welfare Minister O.R. Kelu, had left the district, and that “the sub-committee had failed to take concrete steps, being more interested in photo shoots.”
Mr. Surendran also brought up the issue of the Prime Minister’s visit to the site two weeks ago, where he had directed the Chief Minister to submit a memorandum to the Centre on the disaster and the financial assistance required. However, Mr. Surendran said the State government was yet to take any steps in this regard.
Furthermore, he highlighted that the Centre had allotted ₹600 crore to the State for disaster prevention in the past two years, but the government had failed to utilise the funds. Mr. Surendran also mentioned that many survivors of the Puthumala landslides were still awaiting rehabilitation after five years and that the government was repeating same mistakes in rehabilitating the survivors of the Chooralmala landslides.
Mr. Surendran urged the government to convene an all-party meeting to discuss various aspects of the rehabilitation project and ensure that the survivors receive adequate support and relief.
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Kerala
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avalanche/landslide
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