The Union Government has designated the floods in Kerala as a Level 3 disaster, constituted as a ‘Calamity of Severe Nature.’ “Keeping in view the intensity/magnitude of the floods/landslides of 2018 in Kerala, this is a Calamity of Severe Nature’ for all practical purposes,” reads a memorandum of the Ministry of Home Affairs.
According to the National Disaster Management Guidelines, the levels of disasters are disseminated as L0, L1, L2 and L3, based on the ability of various authorities to deal with them. L3 disaster situations arise from large-scale disasters where districts and the state may not have the capacity to respond adequately and require assistance from the central government for reinstating the state and district machinery.
“Even though there cannot be watertight compartmentalisation of responsibilities between states and the centre, especially in the case of man-made disasters, the participation by the Centre will normally be at the L3 level,” state the guidelines.
After this move, Members of Parliament can use up to Rs 1 crore from their MPLADS funds – meant for their own constituency or state – to help Kerala.
According to para 2.8 of the MPLADS Guidelines, in the event of “Calamity of severe nature” in any part of the country, an MP can recommend works up to a maximum of Rs 1 crore for the affected district.
The funds in this regard will be released by the District Authority of Nodal district of the MP concerned, to the district authority of the affected district, to get permissible works done.
The Works Completion Report, Audit Certificate and Utilization Certificate for such works and funds will be provided by the District Authority of the affected districts directly to the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation for overall reconciliation. No separate UC/AC/Completion Report in respect of the transferred amount would be required from the Nodal District authority in this regard while processing the release of subsequent instalment of MPLADS funds.
Kerala has been witnessing one of the worst floods in over 100 years. As of Monday, over 350 people have been killed in the torrential rains and subsequent floods in Kerala. Over 7.8 lakh people have been displaced and are in relief camps put up across the state.
The Union Government has so far granted Rs 600 crore to the flood-affected state.