Kasaragod: Nearly three months after the firecracker explosion at Anjoothambalam Veererkavu Temple in Nileshwar, Kerala government is yet to release the promised solatium to the families of two out of the six persons who lost their lives in the 'state disaster'. The reason: the State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF) does not have Rs 8 lakh to spare.

The fire accident on October 29, 2024 left 154 people injured, 95 of whom were hospitalised with burn injuries. Over the next 16 days, six persons succumbed to their injuries. Several of the survivors are yet to recover fully.

On the day of the explosion, the Kerala State Disaster Management Authority's State Executive Committee declared the fire accident a "state disaster", allowing the District Collector to use the SDRF to provide immediate relief to the victims.

On October 18, just 11 days before the temple explosion, the Union government told the High Court of Kerala — hearing a suo moto case on managing natural disasters in the state — that Rs 782.99 crore was available in the SDRF.

According to a top official in the district administration, Collector Inbasekar K tapped the SDRF to provide Rs 4 lakh each to the families of the first four persons who succumbed to burn injuries. He also released money from the SDRF to foot the hospital bills of all victims.

However, the SDRF lacked sufficient funds to compensate the families of the other two victims who died later, the top official said. "We have written to the government requesting an additional Rs 8 lakh. The compensation will be released within two days of receiving the funds," he said.

Ranjith (28), a driver from Kinavoor, succumbed to burn injuries on November 9 and P C Padmanabhan (68), a retired manager of the District Service Cooperative bank from Nileshwar, died November 14. Their families have not yet received the solatium from the state government.

The families of C Sandeep (38) and U Ratheesh (40) from Kinavoor, K Biju (37) from Manjalamkadu near Kollampara in Kinanoor-Karinthalam, and Shibinraj (19) from Thuruthi in Cheruvathur panchayat were compensated.

State Disaster Response Fund is a joint account, with the Union government contributing 75% of the allocation. In October, the Union government said Kerala's SDRF has Rs 782.99 crore, including its share of Rs 291.20 crore.

The state government and the Finance officer of the Department of Disaster Management, however, submitted before the court that the fund has Rs 677 crore but did not specify how much of it could be allocated for Wayanad disaster relief.

After repeated nudges by the court, the government said that after clearing the Union government's debt, it had only Rs 61 crore for relief work.

After the intervention of Division Bench judges A K Jayasankaran Nambiar and Easwaran S, the Union government freed up Rs 120 crore in SDRF for Wayanad relief work. Yet, releasing Rs 8 lakh for the two victims of the Anjoothambalam temple explosion seems to have fallen to the bottom of the government’s priority list.

The Anjoothambalam Veererkavu Temple committee provided Rs 5 lakh each to the families of the six deceased. Additionally, the Sree Narayana Dharma Paripalana (SNDP) Yogam, a social organisation of the Ezhava community, and the Thiya Samudaya Kshetra Samrakshana Samithi, the temple protection committee of the Thiya community, gave Rs 1 lakh each to the families of the deceased. The Anjoothambalam temple committee also gave amounts ranging from Rs 20,000 to Rs 1 lakh to the injured, based on the severity of their injuries.

The Nileshwar police had registered a case against two temple committee members in connection with the explosion. Firecrackers worth Rs 30,000, purchased for the temple's Theyyam festival, had been stored in a temporary shed just three metres from the detonation site. According to the Collector, the required safety distance is 100 metres.

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