Kerala flood relief: State govt releases second tranche of Rs 2.30 billion

The Kerala government has started releasing money for districts as part of its programme to rebuild the state. The state released Rs 2.30 billion to district collectors towards second installment payment of Rs 100 billion for families who have been in the camps, said Thomas Isaac, finance minister of Kerala.

He added that the first installment of Rs 38 billion had already been released a week ago. Almost the entire state was badly hit due to the floods. Over 320 people have lost their lives and lakhs are staying at camps. Isaac said that initial estimate of loss due to the flood was around Rs 200-300 billion. He agreed that the state needs to rebuild starting from housing, infrastructure, livelihood and especially agriculture.  He estimated the immediate relief requirement to around Rs 30 billion and rehabilitation at Rs 250 billion.“We are currently working on the package and are conducting meetings for that,” said  Isaac.

A cleaning operation for the agriculture area of Kuttanad has been started on Tuesday with over 70,000 people joining the activity, the minister added.