Thiruvananthapuram/New Delhi: With over eight lakh people taking shelter in 3,734 relief camps, the government on Sunday directed the central ministries to focus on providing essential commodities and medicine and restoration of vital services in flood-hit Kerala.
The National Crisis Management Committee (NCMC) in its review meeting directed that focus should now be on provision of emergency supplies of food, water, medicines and restoration of essential services such as power, fuel, telecom and transport links as flood water recedes in Kerala, an official spokesperson said.
The Department of Food and Public Distribution has made available 50,000 metric tonnes of food grains (rice and wheat) to meet the immediate needs with additional quantities in the pipeline.
The Department of Consumer Affairs has made arrangements to airlift 100 metric tonnes of pulses by Monday with additional quantities to be sent by train.
The Petroleum and Natural Gas Ministry has made available 9,300 kilolitres of kerosene to Kerala. Additional 12,000 kilolitres of kerosene will be allocated. LPG bottling plant in Kochi has been reopened.
The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare will airlift 60 tonnes of emergency medicines on Monday. It has put six specialised medical teams on standby, the spokesperson said.
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Mullaperiyar dam
All shutters of the Mullaperiyar dam has been shut. Water level is at 140 ft.
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Chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan said that a preliminary stock taking has put the total losses at Rs 20,000 crore. Click to read more
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No customs duty on relief supplies from abroad
Relief supplies like Food, medicines, clothes, blankets sent from abroad for the flood affected in Kerala will be excepted from import duty and GST, informed the customs commissioner.
The move comes after chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan informed the prime minister about relief supplies being held at airports by customs officials. Similar instructions have been given to airports in other states too.
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Subsidized items available from Supplyco without ration cards
Those who have lost their ration cards during the floods can still avail the subsidised items sold through Supplyco during Onam as alternative arrangements have been made, said managing director M S Jai.
The mobile phone number which was added in the ration card can be used to buy supplies.
If no mobile number is registered in the ration card, then submitting an affidavit from the respective ration shop with card number and details will also do.
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Volunteers pull a truck carrying relief supplies that got stuck in the flood waters. Photo: Josekutty J Panackal
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Centre declares Kerala floods as 'Calamity of severe nature'
The disaster management division of the home ministry has declared the floods in Kerala as 'Calamity of severe nature.'
The declaration would allow all Members of Parliament to donate up to Rs 1 crore from the funds allocated to them.
“Keeping in view the intensity and magnitude of the floods/landslides of 2018 in Kerala, this is a Calamity of 'severe nature' for all practical purposes,” said a statement from the central government.
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Balagokulam calls off Sreekrishna Jayanti celebrations
Balagokulam on Monday decided to call off Sree Krishna Jayanti celebrations as Kerala was battling its worst-ever floods in nearly a century. Sree Krishna Jayanti which falls on September 2 will avoid the usual Shoba Yatra and cultural programmes across the state.
Thousands of children are usually dressed up as Krishna and gopikas and take over the streets on this day. But it was decided to avoid these programmes and the money saved would be donated for relief and restoration work.
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Saying flood relief was running 'very well,' union minister Alphons Kannanthanam said on Monday that Kerala needed thousands of electricians, carpenters and plumbers to repair and rebuild damaged homes and buildings.
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Rescue operations have completed in Pathanamthitta district and now focus will be on relief work, said collector P B Nooh.
The six day long efforts were successful due to the cooperation and participation of the public, he said.
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Vice president, speaker urges MPs to donate one month salary
Vice president Venkaiah Naidu and speaker Sumitra Mahajan sent letters to Members of Parliament urging them to donate one month's salary towards relief work in Kerala.
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Kerala CM thanks Telangana counterpart for Rs 25cr aid
Hyderabad: Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan today thanked his Telangana counterpart K Chandrasekhar Rao for contributing Rs 25 crore towards relief measures in the rain-ravaged state.
"The overwhelming response from your state and others demonstrate the extent of compassion and care that we show to each other in the hour of crisis and calamity, which makes us all proud of being part of Indian ethos and spirit," Pinarayi said in a letter to Rao.
Telangana Home Minister N Narasimha Reddy handed over the cheque for Rs 25 crore to Vijayan in Thiruvananthapuram yesterday.
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Odisha IAS,IPS officers to give one-day salary
The IAS Officers Association of Odisha has decided to contribute at least one day's salary of its members to the Kerala Chief Minister's Relief Fund to help the flood-affected people.
The association stands as one with the people of Kerala during this crisis and wishes them strength to overcome the tragedy, secretary of the officers' body Sishal Dev said.
He also said that the Odisha government has deputed a special team to Kerala to provide humanitarian and disaster assistance to support the people in Kerala, which has been reeling under severe floods.
The Odisha IPS Officers Association would also donate one-day salary of its members to the fund, association secretary Satyajit Mohanty said.
Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik had announced financial assistance of Rs 10 crore and ordered polythene sheets worth Rs 8 crore for flood-ravaged Kerala.
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NDDB to send relief materials worth Rs 2cr
Anand: The Gujarat-based National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) today said it will dispatch relief materials worth Rs 2 crore comprising over 10 lakh packs of ready-to-drink milk, 500 tonnes of cattle feed and veterinary medicines to flood-hit Kerala.
A release from the Anand-headquartered dairy cooperative said that its chairman Dilip Rath had informed Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan that an earlier consignment of one lakh packets of sterile milk was unloaded at Thrissur and Kozhikode on Sunday morning.
"During the next few days, NDDB will supply more than a million such packs for distribution among the people in relief camps across the state. These packs are being sourced from the Dakshina Kannada Milk Unions dairy plant in Mangalore," it said.
The NDDB also informed that 10,000 bags of cattle feed, totalling 500 tonnes, would be supplied to flood-hit areas in the southern state.
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Finance minister Thomas Isaac said that rescue operations in Kuttanad have been completed. He said 1.25 lakh people were rescued. Over 50,000 people went to their relatives' houses. Nearly 10,000 people are still staying at affected areas. Of them, 4000 people are at the relief camp in Edathua college. Nearly 2000 people stay at some other relief camps also. A district level council has been formed to run camps in Kuttanad region.
The Railways will provide blankets and bedsheets to meet the immediate requirements of the state government.
The Air India has offered to airlift relief material without any cost.
The central government has also decided to give ex-gratia of Rs 2 lakh each to the family of those killed in the floods and Rs 50,000 to the injured.
The compensation will be given from the Prime Minister's Relief Fund.
The NCMC, headed by cabinet secretary P K Sinha, met for the fourth consecutive day, reviewed the rescue and relief operations among the armed forces, NDRF, Ministry of Home Affairs and other central ministries and the Kerala government.
Many are still stranded in their homes with no food and sheaths of water around them at various places in Alappuzha, Thrissur and Ernakulam districts.
The maximum death toll has been reported from Idukki district, where 43 people have lost their lives so far, as per official estimates. Twenty-eight deaths were reported in Malappuram and 27 in Thrissur.
At Chengannur in Alapuzha district, at least 5,000 are stranded, according to revenue officials. Over six lakh people are in relief camps across the state.
At Paravur in Ernakulam district, six persons are said to have been killed as a portion of a church collapsed on Wednesday night.
At least 600 are stranded in the church and no help has come from any quarter so far, an angry survivor in chest deep water told a television channel.
"There is no food or drinking water... no one has so far come to help us."
However, there is no official confirmation about the deaths of the six persons in the church so far.
2 lakh in Thrissur camps
Over 2 lakh people in Thrissur district are in relief camps, he said.
In some relief, Kochi Naval airport will start operating commercial flights from Monday.
This was due to closure of the Kochi International airport till August 26 following flooding of the runway and airport areas in the heavy rains.
The railways have cancelled at least 18 trains, partially cancelled nine and diverted Sunday's Kanyakumari-Mumbai CST express train via Nagercoil, Tirunelveli, Madurai, Dindigul and Erode.
With several stretches across the state being destroyed, the services of the Kerala State Transport Corporation and private buses has also been affected.
Along with personnel of the Army, Navy, Air Force, Coast Guard and the NDRF, hundreds of fishermen and local people are engaged in relief operations.
A young officer safely winched to safety a baby from a building marooned by flood waters on Friday, while at another place girl students from a hostel were rescued in a similar manner.
A 24-year-old man, who rescued his mother and siblings after their home was fully flooded, lost his life as he tripped and fell into the fast flowing waters while helping his aged father.
His body was recovered on Saturday. His father, who held on to a fallen tree branch, was saved from the flood water.
Prime minister Narendra Modi had undertaken an aerial survey of some of the flood affected regions on Saturday and reviewed the situation. The Centre has sanctioned Rs 500 crore as immediate assistance to the state.
(With inputs from agencies)
