Kerala to seek higher assistance for drought relief works

Kerala Government would submit a revised memorandum to the Centre seeking additional assistance over and above the Rs 7,900 crore sought by it for undertaking drought relief works, Chief Minister Oommen Chandy said today.
The State government had already sought an amount of Rs 7,900 crore from Centre to take up drought related works. However, considering the present situation, a revised memorandum would be submitted for additional relief assistance, he told reporters here after a cabinet meeting which reviewed the drought relief measures.
The current compensation amount agreed by the Central government was much less than what the State government intended to give to the farmers, he added.

The Cabinet gave permissive sanction to the panchayats, municipalities and corporations in all the 14 districts of the state to utilise their respective funds of Rs five lakh, Rs 10 lakh and Rs 20 lakhs respectively for drought related works.
Close monitoring of the drought relief measures are going on all over the State with "whole-hearted" cooperation of MLAs and other peoples' representatives and officials, the Chief Minister said.
Stating that government had relaxed rules for spending on drought related works, he said panchayats had been given sanction to utilise the balance amount from the Plan fund and spend it within the financial limit set till May 31.

On other cabinet decisions, he said approval had been given to the agreement between the Kochi Metro Corporation and the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation, for implementing the Kochi Metro Rail project.
MoU would be signed at the earliest and the construction will begin in a month's time, he added.
He also said cabinet decided to appoint tribal people as forest watchers. As many as 700 tribal watchers would be appointed as forest watchers through Public Service Commission, he added.