No Financial Relief From Centre To Kerala, But FCI Sends Rs 205 Cr Bill For Rice During Floods

The Food Corporation of India (FCI) has asked Kerala to pay Rs 205 crore for the rice allotted as flood relief during 2018-19.?

The FC, sent a letter to the Kerala State Disaster Management Authority (KSDMA) stated that it had distributed 89,000 tonnes of rice in the state when the state was reeling under the flood and asked the agency to settle the bill of Rs 205.81 crore.?

"..it was requested to take necessary steps to settle the bill raised by FCI towards the cost of 89,540 tonnes of rice lifted from FCI against the additional allocation made under flood relief during 2018-19 and remit the amount of Rs 205.81 crore to FCI at the earliest," the letter said.?

The development came hours after a high-level committee (HLC) chaired by Union Home Minister Amit Shah approved additional central assistance of Rs 5908.56 crore from the National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF) to seven states which had experienced heavy flooding and losses in 2019. While seven flood-hit states Assam (Rs 616.63 crore) Himachal Pradesh (Rs 284.93 crore) Karnataka (Rs 1869.85 crore) Madhya Pradesh (Rs 1749.73 crore) Maharashtra (Rs 956.93 crore) Tripura (Rs 63.32 crore) and Uttar Pradesh (Rs 367.17 crore) were provided financial assistance, Kerala which was one of the worst-hit states was left out.?

The state had sought a financial aid of Rs 2101 crore from the Center.?

"When the centre yesterday allotted Rs 5,908 crore to the seven states for dealing with damage from various natural calamities, the committee headed by Union Minister Amit Shah refused to allot even a single rupee to Kerala.The state was also denied any assistance when an interim aid was given to four states earlier," CPI state chief Kanam Rajendran said in a release.

This is not the first time that left-ruled Kerala has accused the BJP government in Delhi of playing politics over flood relief.In 2018 too the government had sent a bill of Rs 290.74 crore to the state in compensation for operating the aircraft that helped in rescue and relief operations during the flood.The Kerala Government had also accused the Modi government of not allowing the state to receive financial support from foreign countries, including several middle eastern nations that have a sizeable Malayali population.?

The Narendra Modi-led government was also accused of denying permission to Kerala minister to go abroad to collect funds for flood relief. In 2018 the Centre had provided initial assistance of Rs 600 crore to Kerala and later another Rs 3,048 crore was allocated to the state ad additional assistance from the National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF).