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Kerala to seek Rs. 222-crore aid for rain damage relief

ALAPPUZHA: The Kerala government is making preparations to submit a summer rain damage account of around Rs.222 crore, prepared as per Central relief norms, to the Union government-deputed team that will reach Kerala on April 3.

Revenue Minister K.P. Rajendran said here on Monday that damage statistics from Wayanad and Idukki, where pepper and mango cultivation had suffered huge losses, would be added to this figure. A preliminary report would be sent to New Delhi on Monday itself while final figures for the relief amount available as per Central norms would be submitted when the team arrives.

Mr. Rajendran was addressing a press conference after visiting the residence of Pushkaran, a paddy farmer who committed suicide here last week. He said the actual loss would be at least four times the Rs.222 crore-account.

“The loss suffered by mango farmers, whose entire yield has been damaged in Idukki and Wayanad, the actual damage suffered by farmers of crops other than paddy and the yield that could have been possible had the rains not struck will all take the figure much higher than what is available as per the Centre’s relief norms. So we will present two reports, one as per the norms, and the other, detailing the actual loss,” he said.

The loss to paddy farmers in Kuttanad, the Thrissur kole fields and other districts, as per Central relief norms, would come up to around Rs.93 crore while that suffered by pepper farmers would be at least Rs.115 crore, the Minister said.

The State, which had sought an advance allocation of Rs.150 crore, had also sought relaxation of the Centre’s relief norms.

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