'Technical problem' in accepting foreign aid for Ker:Athawale

Amid the row over foreign assistance for rain-ravaged Kerala, Union Minister Ramdas Athawale today said there was "some technical problem" in accepting foreign aid for the state and he would discuss the matter with the Prime Minister's Office.

Assuring the Centre's full support to Kerala, which suffered an estimated loss of Rs 20,000 crore in the rains and floods, the minister said there was "no politics" in extending a helping hand to the southern state.

He announced Rs 25 lakh from his Member of Parliament Local Area Development Scheme (MPLAD) fund to the Chief Minister's Relief Fund.

"Some technical problems are there (in accepting foreign aid).

When I go to Delhi, definitely I will contact with the PMO... if the UAE governnment or any other government are ready to give the money (to the state)," Athawale told reporters after reviewing rehabilitation work in Ernakulam district with government officials.

"The state has suffered an estimated loss of Rs 20,000 crore due to the floods. If any further help, definitely our government will help and there is no any politics," he said.

Union minister KJ Alphons had yesterday requested the Centre to make a "one-time exception" to its 14-year policy of not accepting foreign aid in the face of natural calamities for Kerala.

As the row over foreign aid for the flood-ravaged southern state escalated, Alphons earlier in the day had said the NDA government had "inherited" the policy of not accepting foreign funds for natural calamities from the previous UPA government.

He said the Centre's stand on Kerala was a convention "inherited" from previous governments, when during 2004's devastating Tsunami, then prime minister Manmohan Singh had refused aid from foreign countries.

Meanwhile, AICC general secretary and former Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy said the Centre's stand on foreign aid was not acceptable.

"We cannot accept the Centre's stand. I have written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi requesting him to remove obstacles, if any, to facilitate foreign funding for rebuilding the flood-ravaged state," he said.

Chandy also demanded a judicial probe into the "mismanagement" from state government authorities in opening shutters of dams, causing floods downstream.

Despite sevaral forecasts on excess rain, the state government waited to see the dams were filled and this paved the way for the calamity, he alleged.

The government should announce a judicial probe into it, he told reporters here.

The deluge had claimed 231 lives since August 8.

The state has suffered an estimated loss of Rs 20,000 crore (as per a preliminary estimate) due to the floods and had sought an interim assistance of Rs 2,600 crore from the Centre, besides a special package of a similar amount under the Mahatma Gandhi Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme.