Priyanka Gandhi writes to PM, seeks loan waiver for landslide victims

Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra has again written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi urging him to direct waiver of loans availed by the victims of the Mundakkai-Chooralmala disaster in Wayanad, the party said on Saturday.

The Congress MP has also urged the PM to convert the loans given to the state for disaster relief work as grants, it said in a statement.

It further said that after Wayanad did not receive any central assistance related to the Mundakkai-Chooralmala landslides, all the Kerala MPs had met Union Home Minister Amit Shah in person in December 2024.

Subsequently, in February 2025, Priyanka had written to the PM pointing out that providing money as a loan for rehabilitation six months after the landslides was "unjust and inhumane", the statement said.

 

She had also requested the PM to waive the loans of the jeep and autorickshaw drivers, small traders and homestay operators who had lost their means of livelihood in the disaster, it said.

The Congress MP had again made the request to the PM via another letter in October last year, it said.

She had also asked the National Disaster Management Authority to instruct banks to waive the loans given to disaster victims using its inherent statutory powers.

The central government had then taken a stand in the court that loans could not be waived after the amendment of the National Disaster Management Act, the statement said.

The Kerala High Court, however, had observed that there was no obstacle in the central government granting loan waivers under Article 73 of the Constitution, it said.

Article 73 of the Constitution provides the extent of the executive power of the Union government.

The July 2024 landslides in the Mundakkai-Chooralmala area of Wayanad had claimed over 200 lives and destroyed hundreds of homes.