New Delhi: The United Arab Emirates has not announced a grant of Rs 700 crore for Kerala in the aftermath of floods that ravaged the south Indian state, a top diplomat with the West Asian country clarified on Friday. Earlier this week, state chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan had revealed that UAE had offered Rs 700-crore monetary help to Kerala.
The UAE is analysing the gravity of the calamity and is yet to make a formal decision on the proposal, according to Ahmed Albanna, the Gulf nation’s ambassador in New Delhi.
Efforts are, nonetheless, on to supply medicines and other essential goods to the people of Kerala. For relief and rehabilitation, the UAE has formed a committee that is working in association with various organisations, he said. But nothing has been finalised on the UAE’s financial aid to Kerala, he added.
Abu Dhabi prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed bin Sultan Al-Nahyan had called Prime Minister Narendra Modi over phone to inform about the aid, the Kerala CM had told a press meet in Thiruvananthapuram.
The Centre has taken the stand to decline aid offers from other countries for a domestic disaster, instead mobilise funds from within.
Dubai ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, who is the vice president and prime Minister of the UAE, is heading the high-powered panel that will decide on his nation’s help to Kerala, ambassador Albanna said.
If officials are in talks with federal authorities and also finding on ways to muster relief material, he added.
The committee will pool in aid with help from Red Crescent besides voluntary organisations in India and other countries. "To reach aid to Kerala is our responsibility," the ambassador added.
