Wayanad relief fund fiasco: Congress slams CM Vijayan’s memorandum

Thiruvananthapuram, Sep 17 (IANS) A day after the office of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan came out with a statement slamming the media for levelling baseless allegations against funds spent in connection with the Wayanad disaster, Leader of Opposition V. D. Satheesan on Tuesday stated that the memorandum lacked credibility.

“The statement that was submitted to the High Court on the estimates was unrealistic and it was done by someone who had no clue. We wish to know who prepared the so-called memorandum that has come under attack from all quarters,” said Satheesan.

“The so-called memorandum submitted to the Centre points out that bodies were interred and a cost has been attributed, while the fact of the matter known to all is it was done in a plot of land donated by a plantation company. The entire work at that time was done by volunteers of the local legislator. This is not the way a memorandum should be prepared and if it’s given like this, then what should rightfully come also won’t,” said Satheesan.

Incidentally, the statement from Vijayan’s office condemning the media for misrepresentation said that what was prepared was preliminary estimates of the necessary expenses for various aspects were clearly stated in the memorandum.

“However, these estimates are now being misrepresented in the media as actual expenditure in the disaster-affected areas, which is untrue,” read the statement from Vijayan’s office.

Veteran Congress legislator Ramesh Chennithala said that the statement from Vijayan reveals that there are a lot of questions that Vijayan has to answer.

“The need of the hour is for Vijayan to come clean on this issue as in the statement, there are sections which are marked as estimates and in some places it’s given as actuals. Rs 75,000 has been marked as actual expenses for conducting the last rites for each dead body and we wish to know if this is true. A sum of Rs 8 crore has been marked as actual expenses for food supplied to the camps for a month, while several people left the camps after a few weeks. There are lots of discrepancies and want Vijayan to explain,” said Chennithala.

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