New Delhi: Days after the central government allotted Rs 529 crore as the relief package for Wayanad landslide victims, Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi dubbing it a “shocking lack of sensitivity” towards those affected and demanded to convert the relief package into a grant and extend the time period for its implementation
In her two page letter to Modi, the Congress general secretary, who is also the Wayanad Lok Sabha MP said, “After continuous urging from the MP’s of Kerala, the central government has recently announced a relief package of 529.50 crore for the victims of the devastation.”
Hitting back at the government, she said that apart from the fact of its inadequacy, it is unprecedented that the package comes with two conditions — first that the funds shall be disbursed, not as a grant as is the norm, but as a loan, second, that they should be spent in their entirety by March 31, 2025.
“These conditions are not only immensely unfair, they display a shocking lack of sensitivity towards the people of Chooralmala and Mundakkai who have suffered such shattering losses,” she pointed out.
Urging the Prime Minister, she said as you yourself visited the affected areas in the aftermath of this horrific tragedy, “your visit raised expectations of considerable financial assistance from the Central Government”.
“Unfortunately, those expectations have not been fulfilled. Moreover, the Central government’s refusal to declare the disaster as a National disaster came as a shock to the victims. Many months later, after sustained pressure from the MP’s from Kerala, the declaration of the disaster as a “Disaster of Severe Nature” appeared to be a step in the right direction. However, the announcement of this inadequate and conditional relief package is extremely disappointing,” the Congress leader said.
She said that she believes that the people of Wayanad deserve every possible assistance and support to pull themselves out of the terrible misfortune that has befallen them.
“I urge you to consider their plight with compassion. It is my earnest request to you to convert the relief package into a grant and extend the time period for its implementation,” Priyanka Gandhi said, adding this will help them to begin rebuilding their lives and will also reassure them that the future holds some measure of promise and hope.
On July 30, a massive landslide struck Wayanad in which, 298 people were found dead while 231 bodies were recovered along with 223 body parts, 32 persons were reported missing and declared dead.
Almost 1,685 buildings were damaged, including houses, schools, village offices, dispensaries, anganwadi’s, shops, religious centres and government buildings.
Even two educational institutions, namely, the Government Vocational Higher Secondary School Vellarmala and the Government Lower Primary School Mundakkai were completely wrecked by the landslide. Permanent rehabilitation of these two institutions at which 658 students were previously enrolled is still awaited.
