Kerala - Alappuzha   

Committee to oversee tsunami relief projects

Staff Reporter

Rehabilitation projects to be completed by May 2009

HELPING HAND: Minister for Cooperation G. Sudhakaran and Minister for Revenue K.P. Rajendran distributing the State Government's financial aid to the kin of those killed in the tsunami disaster at Arattupuzha in Alappuzha district on Friday.

ALAPPUZHA: Revenue Minister K.P. Rajendran on Friday reiterated the State Cabinet's decision to complete all tsunami relief and rehabilitation projects by May 2009.

Addressing a function organised at the tsunami-hit panchayat of Arattupuzha in the district to distribute the State Government's financial assistance of Rs.1 lakh each to the kin of those who died in the calamity, the Minister said the Cabinet on Thursday had formed a seven-member committee of Ministers to ensure that all the projects were completed within the timeframe stipulated by the Planning Commission.

Distributing financial aid to 45 families here, Mr. Rajendran said the State Government would within a week distribute the financial aid of Rs.1 lakh that had been promised to 238 families in the State on the second anniversary of the tsunami disaster in December last.

The Government was also racing against time to submit relief and rehabilitation project proposals before July 15 to the Centre to get its promised aid of Rs.1,441.75 crore, he said.

Relief package

Seeking to dispel "misconceptions" that the State had already got all the money from the Centre, the Minister said only Rs.109 crore out of the Rs.250 crore sanctioned through the Rajiv Gandhi Relief Package had been given to the State. The sanction for the remaining Rs.141 crore had expired because the previous UDF Government did not submit project proposals within the stipulated time.

To avail itself of Rs.245 crore from the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the State Government would have to complete all projects that had been started during the previous Government's tenure before May 2008, he said. The Minister said not a "single paisa" of the Centre's grant would go to any place other than the panchayats of Arattupuzha, Alappad, Edavanakad and Andhakaranazhi. He said housing for the tsunami-affected would be given priority. The process for starting housing projects was already on in these places, he said adding that the Government would also help to set up a memorial at Arattupuzha to those who had lost their lives in the disaster.

Cooperation and Devaswom Minister G. Sudhakaran said it was time to move into "a stage of less words and more action," failing which the relief measures would not have the desired effect.

The Arattupuzha rebuilding project would be a model for rehabilitation/relief projects in the country, he said.

District Collector V.K. Balakrishnan, local MLAs, district and block panchayat members and others were present.

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Committee to oversee tsunami relief projects

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