Wayanad relief: Kerala HC asks Centre to consider relaxing norms on outstanding debt

Kochi, Dec 18 (IANS) The Kerala High Court on Wednesday asked the Central government to consider relaxing the SDRF/NDRF norms so that the Kerala government is "freed up" of Rs 180 crore outstanding debt and can put this amount for use in Wayanad rehabilitation works.

This suggestion came in the suo moto case taken by the High Court with a division bench of Justices A.K.Jayasankaran Nambiar and S.Easwaran considering the urgency of central assistance in landslide-hit Wayanad for the past few weeks.

In July this year, the worst-ever landslide that hit the state devastated four villages in the area, leaving 231 dead while 47 people continue to be missing. As many as 145 homes were fully destroyed, 170 homes were partially destroyed, 240 homes were declared uninhabitable, and 183 homes were washed away.

The high court has been hearing the case for some time, and the state had informed it that out of the total Rs 782 crore available in the State Disaster Response Fund, about Rs 120 crore are to be paid to the Centre towards arrears of airlifting services provided in 2006, 2016, and 2017, and Rs 60 crore towards other pending bills.

In addition to this, the state said there are other commitments, leaving only Rs 61.03 crore available for use.

Besides the state has filed a detailed summary of past commitments and anticipated expenses for the future.

The court said: "We are informed that the matter can be taken up with the Central government so that the Central government can consider the grant of necessary relaxations. The Central government can consider the issue of relaxations of SDRF/NDRF norms to enable the State government to utilise the aforesaid amounts immediately for the purposes of rehabilitation of landslide victims in Wayanad."

Posting the case for January 10, it asked the Centre to consider the request.

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