LSG Minister A C Moideen ask centre for Rs 1,300 crore assistance

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Local Self Government Department (LSGD) has written to the Centre seeking Rs 1,300 crore as Special Central Assistance for rebuilding roads under the LSG Department and also houses destroyed or damaged in the mid-August floods.

LSG Minister A C Moideen has written to Union Rural Development Minister Narendra Singh Tomar requesting the financial assistance by including it in the special schemes of the Centre. He has sought Rs 498.94 crore for rebuilding houses and Rs 793.23 crore for rebuilding the roads. In all, 5,80,502 families in the state fell victims to the floods. As many as 12,477 houses were totally destroyed and 82,853 houses partially destroyed across the state.

Thrissur, Palakkad and Ernakulam districts reported the highest destruction/damage of houses in the calamity. As many as 3,461 houses were fully destroyed in Thrissur, 1,838 in Palakkad and 1,546 in Ernakulam, the minister said. The renovation/rebuilding of the houses would alone require Rs 498.94 crore.

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At present, the Centre has placed a limit on financial assistance under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana. This being the case, the disaster victims would find it hard to mobilise money for rebuilding the houses. The government has estimated a financial assistance of Rs 4 lakh each for rebuilding houses, Moideen said.  

As many as 1,895 rural roads in the state, a total of 2,983.67 km, were destroyed in the floods. 469 km of roads were destroyed in Palakkad, 283.24 km in Idukki, 211.24 km in Ernakulam, 267 km in Kannur and 212 km in Wayanad. In his letter to Tomar, Moideen requested the Union Minister to sanction Rs 793.23 crore under the Pradhan Mantri Grameen Sadak Yojana for renovating/rebuilding the roads. Moideen said his letter to the Centre was based on similar pleas made by other flood-hit states in the past.