Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Monday, December 9, criticised Union Home Minister Amit Shah for his misleading statements on rehabilitation efforts in Wayanad. He said Amit Shah’s statement that financial assistance was not given to Kerala as the state government delayed submitting the study report was baseless.
In a reply to a representation given by Kerala MPs, Amit Shah had said that the Kerala government failed to send any assessment memo even three months after the tragedy. The meeting was led by Wayanad MP Priyanka Gandhi in Delhi on December 4 to discuss getting more assistance for relief works.
Responding to the claims, Pinarayi Vijayan said the memorandum detailing the losses caused by the disaster was submitted by August 17. A preliminary assistance of Rs 1,202 crore, including estimated and anticipated expenses for relief measures, was sought in line with the guidelines of the National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF).
“Prime Minister Narendra Modi had visited the disaster-affected areas on August 10, when the state government had clearly detailed Kerala’s needs. Over 100 days have passed since the PM's visit, and it has been more than three months since the memorandum was submitted. Despite the visit of the central team, not a single rupee has been provided to Kerala as special financial assistance. Meanwhile, several other states have received assistance without formal requests,” he stated.
Amit Shah had said that the Kerala government had delayed submitting the report and memo with an estimate of Rs 2,219.033 crore for recovery and reconstruction works. “The state government has inordinately delayed complying with the assurances of PM Narendra Modi and not sent any assessment memo even after three and a half months of the incident,” he alleged.
Amit Shah was referring to the Post Disaster Needs Assessment (PDNA) report, mandatory to get funds from the Union government. In response, Pinarayi Vijayan said that preparing a PDNA requires at least three months and Kerala completed the process in the shortest possible time. “It should be noted that when the Prime Minister visited Kerala, the PDNA was not yet recognized as an official document for financial assistance. The first PDNA submitted under the guidelines that came into effect on August 14, 2024, was prepared by Kerala,” he added. The PDNA report was submitted on November 13.
Pinarayi Vijayan also said that this was not the first time that the Union Home Minister has attempted to mislead the public about the Wayanad landslides. “Earlier, he cited a non-existent weather report to claim in Parliament that Kerala had been warned about the landslide and failed to act. However, evidence was immediately presented to refute this claim. The recent statement in Parliament appears to be a repetition of that earlier attempt to misrepresent the facts,” he stated.
