Kerala floods LIVE: Rahul Gandhi meets flood-affected people in Chengannur

Days after floods ravaged Kerala, leaving a massive trail of destruction, Congress president Rahul Gandhi today visited relief camps in Chengannur and heard the woes of the people.   Gandhi, who is on a two-day visit to the state, arrived in Thiruvananthapuram this morning from abroad. He then took a helicopter to Chengannur in Alappuzha district. Congress President Rahul Gandhi made way for an air ambulance to take off in Kerala's Chengannur, today. He is on a two-day tour to the flood affected areas in Kerala. pic.twitter.com/I3j1RBGwBx — ANI (@ANI) August 28, 2018

Flight operations from Cochin airport to resume on August 29 Flight operations from the Cochin International Airport Limited (CIAL) airport, which suffered an estimated loss of over Rs 2.2 billion due to floods, will resume on August 29.   The airport, among the busiest in the country, had been rendered non-functional since August 14 due to flooding and torrential rains.   "CIAL is all set to commence full-scale operations (both international and domestic) at 2 PM on August 29," a CIAL spokesperson said here in a statement.

Kerala floods: CBSE to provide digital certificates to students The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) on Monday announced to provide digital mark sheets, migration certificates and pass certificates to the students from CBSE affiliated schools in Kerala as they might have lost them in the recent floods.   "Over 1,300 schools are affiliated to the CBSE in Kerala. Board exam academic documents are crucial for admission for higher studies and employment etc. CBSE, in technical collaboration with NeGD, developed its own and first of its kind digital academic repository called 'Parinam Manjusha'," read a statement from CBSE.   This academic repository has been integrated with DigiLocker - a service operated by the government that enables citizens to store certain official documents on the cloud.

CM Pinarayi Vijayan reviewed the ongoing relief efforts. At present, there are 4,62,456 people in 1435 camps. The total death count from the rain havoc between August 8th and 26th is 302. #KeralaFloods — CMO Kerala (@CMOKerala) August 26, 2018

Slaughtering cows against Hindu community's feelings. One shouldn't hurt other religions' feelings.See what happened to Kerala,they openly slaughtered cows&in less than 1 yr came to this stage. Whoever hurts Hindu community's feelings will be punished this way:BP Yatnal,BJP(25.8) pic.twitter.com/GuN8njnY6i — ANI (@ANI) August 27, 2018

Kerala to launch app to evaluate damage caused by flood   Kerala will soon launch a mobile application to estimate the damages that were caused by the devastating floods in the state and will accordingly compensate individuals, the District Magistrate of Ernakulam said.   Speaking to ANI, Mohammed Y. Safirulla said, "There is a planned structure that will evaluate the losses faced by all families. It will be completely transparent. The data will be shared with the public. Even independent bodies can access that data so that they can help individuals or specific areas."  

Kerala CM urges Malayalis to donate one month salary In a Facebook post, Vijayan said, "We can overcome any hurdle if Malayalis across the world stand united. Money will not be a hurdle for rebuilding Kerala. Let Malayalis across the world contribute their one month's salary for rebuilding the state. We should think about this."   "Everyone won't be able to give their one month's salary together. You can give it in ten month's time. The non-resident Malayalis should try to ensure the support of those who are with them," he added.   There are still 4.62 lakh people in 1,435 relief camps. At least three lakh houses have been cleaned so far.

Rahul Gandhi to visit flood-hit Kerala tomorrow   Rahul will reach the capital city of Kerala, Thiruvananthapuram on August 28 following which he will visit the flood-affected areas of Chengannur, Alappuzha and Angamaly.   On the second day of his visit, the Congress chief is scheduled to visit Wayanad district.

Flood-ravaged Kerala's wait for full central aid package could be long Flood-ravaged Kerala may have to wait a few months to get the complete financial aid package from the Centre as the process of assessing the extent of damage and fund release is time-consuming, officials said.   After the initial release of funds, the Central government follows certain rules and guidelines before awarding the final aid to any state for a natural calamity, said a home ministry official, privy to such circumstances. The Centre has so far released Rs 6 billion for Kerala, which witnessed its worst flood in a century. The death toll in Kerala floods has touched 293 since August 8 while 15 people are still missing. Read more...

GST Council yet to receive formal cess proposal from flood-hit Kerala The Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council is yet to get a formal proposal from the government of Kerala for a cess to fund post-flood rehabilitation.  Thomas Isaac, the state’s finance minister, had said he would be doing so, with a request for permission to levy one on the State GST (SGST). The latter, he had argued, was purely an intra-state tax and so, “there is no logic in denying (such a request). We want to have a 10 per cent cess on SGST, which I think will get us some Rs 10 billion", he had said. On how the Council would respond, Bihar deputy chief minister Sushil Modi said if this was legally possible under the GST Act or rules, they would okay this, for a limited period.  Read more

More people leave relief camps, cleaning in high gear More and more people on Sunday quit various relief camps in flood-battered Kerala and returned to tidy up their once submerged homes.   Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said that 1,435 relief shelters were still operating, housing a total of 462,456 people, down from 6,05,000 people in 1,822 camps on Saturday.