Kerala floods not national calamity, Centre
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The Centre informed the Kerala High Court today there was no legal provision to declare a disaster as a national calamity, amid demands for declaring the floods as a national disaster.
In an affidavit, the Centre said it has treated the flood situation in Kerala as a “Disaster of Serious Nature” and has categorised the same as ‘L3 Level of Disaster’ under the National Disaster Management Guidelines.
“It is submitted that there is no provision in statutes or manuals to declare a disaster as a ‘national calamity’, howsoever big it may be.
“It is only an expression used in general parlance,” the Centre said.
The affidavit was filed in a response to a petition filed for declaring the floods as a national disaster.
The affidavit also says that Kerala was provided with assistance including service of soldiers. All help would be extended to bring the situation back to normalcy.
Prime Minister, Home minister, tourism minister and a special delegation also visited Kerala to assess the situation. Rs 680 crore has been given in three phases.
Rs 2 lakh would be given to relatives of the dead, while 50,000 each for injured from Prime Ministers’ relief fund. Priority would be given to renovating home damaged in the floods in the rural areas.
The affidavit also informed that 50,000 metric tonnes of food materials and 12, 000 kiloliters of kerosene were allotted.
(With inputs from PTI)